“The Educator’s Guide to Grants”

Would you like funding to update your music technology resources? Do you need uniforms or instruments for the marching band? Are you searching for funding for professional development or travel to study abroad? The Educator’s Guide to Grants is designed to help schools and non-profits find funding and create proposals to access funds successfully. Novices just learning to negotiate grant writing and more experienced writers seeking million-dollar awards will find insight and assistance with this guide. A CD-ROM included with the book features a screened list of hundreds of funding sources matched to each grant area.

Shop Stanton’s for your sheet music needs!

“A Cappella Pop”

A cappella pop singing…it’s the hottest trend in the nation! In A Cappella Pop: The Complete Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing, you’ll find the tools to challenge your top high school and collegiate-age singers. With a foreword by Deke Sharon, topics include: forming your ensemble, music selection, rehearsal techniques, sound reinforcement, vocal percussion, and much more! Author Brody McDonald’s award-winning ensemble, Eleventh Hour, was the first high school group to appear on NBC’s “The Sing-Off,” so he’s a wonderful resource on the topic!

Find more contemporary a cappella resources on our website, and shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

2013 “John Jacobson Workshop” and “Joy of Singing”

Stanton’s is pleased to invite you to our 2013 “John Jacobson Workshop” on August 1st and “Joy of Singing” on August 2nd – two full days of the best new music from Hal Leonard!

John Jacobson Workshop
Thursday 8/1/2013, 9:00 am-4:00 pm
Columbia Heights UMC
REGISTRATION: $60.00 teacher/$40.00 student, Both fees include lunch
Wear your comfy clothes and tennis shoes because you’re gonna get a workout! Recharge your battery, renew your enthusiasm and review the best new titles for show choir with the master of choreography, John Jacobson and special guest, Cristi Cary Miller. You will receive all the music and choreography notes for at least 20 complete routines. (Students attending this session will not receive a music packet. )

Joy of Singing
Friday 8/2/2013, 9:00 am-4:00 pm
Columbia Heights UMC
REGISTRATION: $50.00 (includes lunch)
Stanton’s has hosted this session for almost 30 years! Music for all levels of choral ensembles – elementary through adult – will be presented by clinicians Mark Brymer, Mac Huff, John Jacobson and Cristi Cary Miller. Each director will receive a packet of new music valued at over $150.00 containing arrangements suitable for both school and community choirs. You’ll have ample time to browse Stanton’s on-site store and chat with the clinicians throughout the day.

Register now online, or contact us at 1-800-426-8742 or choral@stantons.com for more information.

Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

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.

Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

Preview New Music from Home!

As you begin looking at planning your Spring concert program, remember that you can preview music from Stanton’s before you decide to buy! We know that it’s difficult to tell if a particular piece of music will fit your needs without actually reading it through, so similar to checking things out from a library, you can “borrow” resources from our store using the “21 Day Trial” program!

Each of Stanton’s departments has slightly different guidelines about what/how many items can be sent on “21 Day Trial,” but in general we can send printed sheet music that is currently in stock. You can request items for trial by phone, email, fax, online or in person—any of the ways that you can place a regular order—but make sure that you specify “21 Day Trial.” You can list the music you’d like to peruse, or you can give us some specifications (like “Patriotic easy piano solos,” “SSA choral music on the theme of friendship,” or “new publications for 8th grade jazz band”) and Stanton’s knowledgeable staff will find some suggestions for you!

We require account or credit card information so that if you choose to keep the music we can charge you accordingly, or return the music within 21 days of your invoice date and you’ll never be charged! (You’ll just have to pay return shipping to get the music back to us.)

Contact us now to request your trial, and then you won’t have to rush around once you’re done with Contest or back from Spring break! Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

“Warming Up with Rounds”

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! Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

Kid’s Korner

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! Shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

Popular Music Classroom “Extras”

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.

“Lift Me Up!”

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

“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!