Activate! Asks: Erik Whitehill

Fun Facts

      My favorite dessert is butterscotch pudding

      My favorite musical is “The Last Five Years” by Jason Robert Brown

       I am half Swedish and I love to bake pepperkaker

       I can’t live without coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper

      My work is published by four different publishing companies

How many years have you been teaching?

10 years teaching, 11 years in music ministry.

How many students do you see in a typical week?

About 600.

What inspired you to become an elementary music educator?

When I student taught, general music surprised me with how much I liked it. During my church music years, I got to know a lot of great general music teachers and I wanted to emulate them.

Tell us about your funniest teaching moment.

At the end of the year, I let the students request activities and songs from earlier in the year. A little boy shouted out his request, “Dirty old man! Dirty old man!” It took me a moment to realize that he meant “Old Dan Tucker.”

If you could have only one item in your teaching bag, what it would it be and why?

My monkey puppet, Larry. He is tried and true and effective! The kids love him and he makes them feel immediately comfortable in my room.

What is your favorite teaching resource?

I really like "GamePlan" by Jeff Kriske and Randy DeLelles.

What music do you listen to in your free time?

Mostly, I listen to classical piano (Argerich, Rubenstein, Biss) and theater music (Sondheim, Brown, Flaherty)

Tell us about your favorite lesson/unit to teach?

I do a Broadway unit at the end of the year with my fourth graders. I created an interactive whiteboard experience with maps of New York City, pictures and videos from the various theaters to which I have been, etc. It ends with role-playing all the various theater jobs from producing, to being a part of the creative team, to tech crew, to performing. 

What is one piece of advice you would suggest for folks who are new to the elementary music classroom?

Talk to your students like they are humans. Be exacting in your standards, but make sure you don’t forget to show them your personality. Also… in everything you do, remember to be a positive and caring presence in your students’ lives. They need you.

What educator(s) most influenced your teaching style or your life?

Phyllis Whitney, my middle school choir director, who suggested I might play the piano for the choir. Gary Fiscus, my high school choir director, who inspired me to be a music teacher for my career. Weston Noble, my collegiate choir director, who taught me that music feeds the soul.

If there was one instrument you could ban from all elementary music classrooms what would it be and why?

The discount store recorder (I love recorder, but any store with “dollar” in its name is selling a party toy, not an acceptable classroom instrument.)

Tell us about your most memorable performance moment (when you were directing).

Performing “Rhythm of the Rain” by Jerry Estes with 25 kids playing Orff and percussion instruments and 50 children singing. When we were done, someone in the audience shouted, “Do it again!” So we did!

What is your go-to strategy to rein in an unruly class?

If they are lower elementary, Larry the Monkey is an effective behavior management tool. If they are upper elementary, I make them aware that I will treat them like the age of their behavior. If they are focused, I can talk to them like humans. If they are not focused, then I have to become their baby sitter. When this happens, no one is happy.

What excites you most about the future of music education?

Using multi-media and interactive technologies. Also, the research that continues to show music education is beneficial to the “whole child.”

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

My first response is...free what? What is this "free time" you speak of? Actually, I am an avid Netflix and Hulu viewer. I love to cook and read, and spending time with friends and colleagues is also very important to me.

Would you like to share your story?

We are looking for Activate! subscribers to share their teaching advice and anecdotes. You can complete the interview at www.bit.ly/1T4ikVp. We will share as many responses as we can on our blog, and one lucky subscriber will win a free subscription to Activate! and be featured in an upcoming issue.

 

A Bucket and Some Boomwhackers

In this video, Mark Shelton plays an excerpt of "Strange Asparagus" from his popular collection, Give Me a Bucket. Enjoy!

Grades 4–8 • Music education meets the vibrant energy of street musicians in this accessible collection for bucket ensemble. Mark Shelton brings you a dozen arrangements utilizing buckets, pails, and drumsticks. In addition to guiding you through the process of setting up your bucket ensemble, this collection includes teaching and performance tips, some simple choreography, and performance tracks.

To order or for more information, visit www.lorenz.com

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Mark Shelton has presented hundreds of arts-in-education performances as a percussion soloist and as leader of the world music ensemble, Tin Roof Tango. From the early days of his career as Visiting Artist at Coastal Carolina Community College to his current work as a soloist, clinician, sideman, and entrepreneur, Mark has created programs, products, and educational services for a variety of ages. The author of Give Me a Groove from Heritage Music Press, Mark has also published articles in Percussive Notes, Activate!, Dulcimer Players News, and Worship Musician. 

Put Down the Pencil!

 by Brody McDonald

So many times I tell my choirs to “begin with the end in mind,” as I learned from Steven Covey. When discussing a performance, I will sometimes ask, “What do you want the audience to say when you finish?” or “What do you want the audience to feel during your performance?” When it comes to singing in a competition, this line of thinking goes a bit farther.

Let’s take for example when my choirs perform at Ohio Music Education Association Large Group Contest each spring. OMEA ratings are:

-I: Superior
-II: Excellent
-III: Good
-IV: Fair
-V: Poor

We discuss what we need to do in order to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that we deserve a Superior rating. Until recently, I told the students to tell the judges (with their singing) to put down a “I.”

Then something changed.  I judged an ICCA Quarterfinal (International Championship of Collegiate Acappella). As I judged, I was constantly thinking, constantly writing, constantly thinking of what number to circle in each category. How I wished for a group who sang so well I could just listen. Not write. Not circle. Just listen and enjoy.

I realized that I had never fully articulated to my choirs what was in my heart for so long. Since we are in ramp-up for OMEA contest now, I asked my top choir, “What do you want the judges to put down?” I heard a chorus of “I!” and “Superior!” and even some “zero!” (being above a I). Then I said, “I want them to put down their pencils.”

A judge who is caught up in an artistic performance doesn’t want to write or score. They just want to listen. They will gladly take the opportunity to step away from the job of judging to become a happy audience member. If your performance can make that happen, then you’ve won – regardless of your score. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not here to say “we’re all winners!” I don’t think that way. I do, however, think there can be more than one winner in music – which is what makes music different than a basketball game. Anyone who can turn the dots on the printed page into engaging music for the audience is a winner.

When your goal is a score or a winning rank, you aren’t striving towards artistry. If you try to get a specific number out of a judge and fail, then you’re just a failure. If your goal is to create art and you make it, there’s no score or ranking that can invalidate your performance. Creating art is the highest challenge, and if you succeed with your singing, the scores and ranks typically take care of themselves.

At the end of the day, music is an art form. When performed well, it becomes nearly impossible to score. That’s why competitions are both good and bad. They are good because they drive us to make our performances strong enough to become true art, and thus a subjective matter that lives outside of scoring. What a paradox! Yes, there will still be scoring in contests, and there will be ratings awarded. There might be plaques or trophies handed out. Still, the real winners will always be those who created true art on stage and every audience member not holding a pencil.

For more outstanding insights from Brody, be sure to visit his blog at www.brodymcdonald.com!

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Brody McDonald is the director of choirs at Kettering Fairmont High School and a faculty member of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. His choirs have performed regularly at OMEA, ACDA Central Division and ACDA National conferences. In addition, they have performed with international artists such as Kenny Rogers, LeAnn Rimes, The Beach Boys, Kenny Loggins and Pentatonix. His award-winning a cappella group, Eleventh Hour, is the first high school group to be featured on NBC's The Sing-Off. They have also been featured on ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition and won a gold medal in the Pop Choral Champions Division at the World Choir Games. Eleventh Hour's studio recordings have been included numerous times on Best of High School A Cappella and have won CARA awards for Best High School Album and Best High School Song.

Brody is at the forefront of the educational a cappella movement, serving as a founder of the A Cappella Education Association and as a nominator/judge for the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Association (CARA). He has presented at numerous educational conferences on pop a cappella in the classroom, and regularly lectures on the topic for ACDA chapters throughout the Midwest. Brody is the author of A Cappella Pop: A Complete Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing and the co-owner of Camp A Cappella (www.campacappella.com), an immersive week-long summer camp dedicated to the study of contemporary a cappella.

Brody is a graduate of Bowling Green State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in choral conducting. He is an experienced barbershopper who sang in an international champion college quartet, a top-20 open class quartet, and in a bronze-medal chorus. He has been named one of Choral Director magazine's Choral Directors of Note.

Hit the Refresh Button on Your Choral Warm-ups

I don't know about you, but if there's one aspect of my rehearsals that I find I need to continuously refresh, it's the warm-ups. All too easily these wonderful opportunities for teaching and growth can become monotonous and stale. Sufficient time is set aside for score study and overall rehearsal planning and preparation, of which warm-ups should be a part, but they're are all too often an after thought (after all, I've been doing this for so long that I can just "shoot from the cuff" here, right?). As choral educators, we understand that the warm-ups are a vital component of our rehearsal, but yet the forethought we give them doesn't always reflect this awareness.

When I find myself wondering why a rehearsal wasn't as effective as I would have liked, I tend to take a look at the way it started. Were the singers engaged in the warm-ups? Did they understand the connection between the warm-ups and their music? Was there a connection between the warm-ups and their music? Were they challenged by the warm-ups, or did they just "go through the motions?" Did I just go through the motions myself?

When I start asking these questions, I know that it's time to start looking around for some new warm-ups; it's time, perhaps, to hit the "refresh" button. And, while there are a few publications that I consistently refer to (The Complete Choral Warm-up Book by Russell Robinson and Jay Althouse, for instance), I often find myself looking to YouTube for inspiration. While there is often much "wading" through that needs to be done, I have stumbled across and returned to a few wonderful videos over the years when I feel the well has run dry. These videos are outline below, and I hope that you'll receive renewed inspiration from them, as I have. Enjoy!



Here is the Indianapolis Children's Choir in action. Some great takeaways here if you're looking for exercises to energize your ensemble (I'm a big fan of kinesthetic engagement)...

If you're looking for a new ear training exercise, this one is fantastic. It presents a considerable challenge, but is also very rewarding once the singers master it.

...and another ear training exercise, this time demonstrated by Voices in Harmony.

If you're looking for a few new exercises to engage the breath, check this out...

Some wonderful examples here for activities that activate the body and mind (same awesome middle school boys choir!)...

Lastly, here is a look into a high school choral rehearsal. I've used, and had success with, almost all of the exercises demonstrated in this video. Some great stuff here.

Do you have any warm-ups that you'd like to share? Any warm-ups/resources that you find yourself returning to over and over again? Would love to hear from you, if so!

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Mark is a graduate of Wright State University in Dayton, OH, having received a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in choral conducting. 

 

Before coming to Lorenz, Mark was the director of choirs at both Howard W. Blake High School for the Performing Arts in Tampa, FL, and Monroe Jr./Sr. High School in Monroe, OH.  Mark is also currently the director of the KCC Concert Choir, an advanced treble choir within the Kettering Children’s Choir organization. The group has toured extensively, and recently sang in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and with the South Cape Children’s Choir and various performing ensembles on a tour throughout South Africa. In the Spring of 2015, Mark also had the privilege of preparing the choir for performances of the Britten War Requiem under the baton of Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops. In addition, Mark has been the music director at his church since the age of 18, and regularly travels throughout the country giving workshops on conducting and worship leading. 
 

Mark is the blessed husband of Jennifer and proud father of Michael and Ellie.

It's National Kazoo Day!

by Mark Jauss, Advertising Associate and Kazoo Enthusiast

I'm sure I'm not telling you something you don't already know, but today, Jan. 28, is National Kazoo Day! Do you know how this incredibly fun instrument came into existence? Here's a brief video outlining the history of the instrument, just in case your answer to the above question was "no":

Naturally, we felt it was necessary to put together a kazoo band to celebrate this momentous day (while also celebrating "too much fun at work day!", admittedly). Enjoy the world premiere below, and three cheers to the kazoo!

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Mark is a graduate of Wright State University in Dayton, OH, having received a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in choral conducting. 

 

Before coming to Lorenz, Mark was the director of choirs at both Howard W. Blake High School for the Performing Arts in Tampa, FL, and Monroe Jr./Sr. High School in Monroe, OH.  Mark is also currently the director of the KCC Concert Choir, an advanced treble choir within the Kettering Children’s Choir organization. The group has toured extensively, and recently sang in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and with the South Cape Children’s Choir and various performing ensembles on a tour throughout South Africa. In the Spring of 2015, Mark also had the privilege of preparing the choir for performances of the Britten War Requiem under the baton of Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops. In addition, Mark has been the music director at his church since the age of 18, and regularly travels throughout the country giving workshops on conducting and worship leading. 
 

Mark is the blessed husband of Jennifer and proud father of Michael and Ellie.