Marches-A Brisk Overview

Do you like Star Wars? If you're a music nerd like me you love the movies but the music makes it even better! How about Darth Vader and his theme, The Imperial March. It's powerful, dark, and spooky, but makes his character super cool. But did you catch that word at the end...march. Have you ever considered what that was in relation to music? There is actually a huge connection here between Darth Vader and his army and the origin of marches!

Marches have a huge connection to nationalism (the pride for one's country). Anywhere you go marches

The United States Marine
Corps Band marching
in a parade.

are played but a different character depending on the country. The start of marches is pretty similar all around and that is with the military. Marching is a huge part of the military, it is used to teach disciple, drill, and leadership. But how did everyone know how to march in step together? The birth of marches
in a music form was born. Drum cadences would be used to help guide tempo through the sequences that the troops would demonstrate together. Due to this being more of an improvised task marches were not notated till the late 16th century. But that was till once brass instruments were developing and becoming popular in an orchestral setting. That was the turning point when marches were then starting to appear not only in the military world but in orchestral work. Composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Mahler were incorporating this style of music into their compositions and it was becoming more popular.

Style is a critical part of marches, as it is what sets the characteristics in place for it to be a march. Based on where you are in the world these can change. For example, in America typically marches are played at fast tempos, almost like you're holding on for dear life. But German marches on the other hand are more laid back and at a slower tempo. It is important when performing marches to have the most accurate interpretation possible to consider these factors. But there are certain choices that are pretty consistent like articulations (accents), time signatures (ones that are seen quite often in this genre of music), and the structure of the piece (intro, exposition, trio...). The key takeaway here is that marches have a certain style that must be achieved, and it is important to consider geographical differences in that process as well.

There are certain individuals that help lead marches to be the fun and exciting music it is today. Have you ever heard Stars and Stripes Forever or the Washington Post March? The man or "the march king" that wrote these pieces was John Phillip Sousa. At the age of 13 Sousa enlisted in the military as a

John Phillip Sousa

musician and spend many years dedicated to the Marine Band. He requested a discharge after many years of service and gave his farewell concert at the White House. He wrote many patriotic marches that are still played to this day! One being Semper Fidelis, which is the official march of the United States Marine Band. The next march composer we will talk about is Henry Filmore. The fun thing about his marches were that they said they could be the easiest or the hardest music you play, interesting take right? Some of his most notable marches are The Presidents March, Circus Bee, and Rolling Thunder March. His marches are typically super fast and technically hard, but super fun to play! We could sit here and name of so many more influential people that contributed to writing marches but we would be here all day. The next time you play a march you have more to consider than just some notes on a page.

My Experience With Educational Blogging

Blogging is a more informal way to share information, experiences, or situations happening in today’s world. This fast and up to date platform has provided a great way for teachers to communicate more about what is happening in the educational world through educational blogging. There are many websites that promote blogging but one has surfaced recently just for educational blogging, it is called Edublogs. This type of platform is becoming increasingly popular so that is why I decided to give it a try as well.

I began to read other educators' blog posts, and the first one I read was by Kallen Miller, “The Importance of Music in Education” which provided many reasons as to why music should have its place in schools. I could not agree more with her and the evidence she provided. NafME is a great source and organization that fights for 

4 people using a electronic
device to post on social media.

music and provides great resources for teachers as well. There is also the importance that music is like a “sports team” for some students. They build relationships and make memories with this activity so there is a social aspect to the program as well. Sometimes these groups mean more than we can imagine to these kids, that is also a reason Summer Johnson's post, “Home Environment” is a crucial aspect to consider as a teacher. That is how a student's home life will bleed into the classroom, especially with parent involvement. Our students mean the world to us so when we see there may be something going on there is a way we can begin to observe that. Getting in touch with parents and creating that relationship is not only better for you to communicate with them, but it's better for the students. Finally I read Alexis Pellicciotti’s post, “Virtual School In Regard to The Art Classroom.” This post talked about the difficulties of Covid-19 had with having to incorporate online school into our classrooms. As a student and teacher this was a difficult season to teach fully online, and a big reason for that she focused on was relationships. It is hard building those connections in a Zoom meeting, but at least we had it because it was something for us to communicate with. The struggles of online school were evident as a student, but as a teacher it was even more difficult to teach through a screen. Overall each of these educational blog posts were very informative, even if we did not have the same subject we were teaching. There is a lot of overlap in the classroom, no matter the material being taught.

My experience with educational blogging was okay, I have always enjoyed writing and have worked with programs like these before. As any other hobby it is a time commitment, especially since this platform is made to be up to date. Having to sit down and write a post a week while I’m teaching would be quite difficult. There were also features on this particular blog site that I was not a fan of, so if I was to continue blogging it would be through another platform. Personally it was not my cup of tea but it was something new that I enjoyed getting to share my voice as a teacher.

Improvisation Is Not Scary!

Here in Tennessee music is always being made, especially in the country loving city of Nashville or in Memphis for some great jazz. It is important as educators to expose our students to a variety of music, and there is a great deal of it here in my home state. But it is even of extra importance for our students to learn from the start to experience expressive music making. Music educator, Bob Duke, says expert teachers focus on: tone, intonation, and expressive music making so it is crucial we include these concepts in our classrooms. That can come in many forms such as composition and improvisation. Improvisation is when a player just lets the music move them, they play what they feel in that moment. This type of music making is a huge part of jazz culture. It can be a great experience for our students to be expressive and step out of a box they may not have known they had, and to have the opportunity to engross themselves in a new genre.

Growing up I wanted to expand my musical knowledge every way I could. From the time I was three years old I have been involved in music, either in music class or taking private lessons for flute and piano outside of school. One thing that always made me nervous was improvisation, and that was because my early teachers never had me

Male teacher in middle demonstrating
on trumpet while 5 students around
him listening.

experience it. The awesome thing about improvisation is that you cannot ever be wrong, of course playing in the key may be a good thing to consider, but it is completely whatever you feel. To me I struggled because I felt I wanted to represent my best, and I would only get that if I sat down and composed what I wanted to play. When I got to high school and joined a jazz band I had no idea how big of importance improvisation had in this type of music. I always loved jazz music but never made that connection. I was scared to death when I had to improv in front of my whole class, but now that I’m older it is so much fun! Not only is improvisation good for students to be expressive but it makes them more confident. I can tell you right now that if I was more comfortable with improvisation earlier in my musical career I would have had way more confidence as a player in general. It also allows you to just have plain fun! There is no pressure in this process, just loving music and making it with your friends. So there is more to improvisation than it being just a technique, and I hope you consider if you're a music teacher reading this to include it more in your curriculums. Expose your students to the ability they have to create music.

Music Class is for EVERYONE!

November 29th, 1975 President Gerald Ford passed a law (IDEA) ensuring the rights for students with special needs to receive equal access to education. This law being passed was exhilarating allowing those students a place they deserve in the classroom. But past academic classes the access to the art programs as well was an amazing opportunity. Music classes in general provide an outlet for student expression, especially in the general music classroom (elementary school). Accommodations and modifications can be so easily made to ensure each student is able to participate, there have been many videos surfacing on YouTube of the success teachers are having in real time in the classroom. Students are able to take part in a multi-sensory experience, as many systems in the body work together to create music. Bottom line is no matter who walks in the music classroom will have a purpose.

Going into teaching soon a fear from my inexperience was working with students with special needs. But after I completed my field experience in an elementary general music classroom I learned how beneficial and simple this process could be for my students and myself. I got to see and befriend many

children who loved music class because they got to express themselves

Female teacher playing drum for 
elementary school kids. The children
are in a circle playing on paint buckets.

in a more unique setting. I remember one child who was nonverbal and always had a hard time with interaction in the classroom. He would stand in the corner before class started and sway back and forth. The teacher could tell that dancing was something he enjoyed so she made sure to include an educational dance song once every lesson. This child would completely come out of their shell and the other students in the classroom would interact more. It was a great experience for those students and you could tell he got some much joy out of that. Now there is more of a push due to the many benefits of having special education students in the general classroom and to be with more of their peers. The arts is a fundamental part of this process. Like I talked about in my last post regarding the reduction of music class time it is important to consider an aspect like this as well. Music education is so important, all of our kiddos need that experience.

Don't Cut Music Class Time, The Students Need It

For the past 2 decades the place of art programs and their allotted time within the school day has been a pressing topic. In 2003 there was talk of a cut but it was not to fully demolish the arts but to reduce their time majorly to give more instruction time for academic classes. Knox County Schools (KCS) has revisited this topic several times since and Knox News has begun to feature articles defending the arts and their place in schools. This reduction would be detrimental to students' musical education and achievement. There are more overlaps than one may consider between music and academics. Math is a huge component in music, counting and figuring out the precise counts of rhythms is like an equation. On top of that critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are of the utmost importance in music, students must listen and adjust to each other constantly. Is that not what we are emphasizing in our academic classrooms as well? Music programs also assist students with self-esteem, self-confidence, sense of accomplishment, discipline, and social skills. If we reduce the time of music classes we are blocking our students from this balanced education. These factors contribute to these well-rounded students we are trying to influence. There are correlations between students in music and their academic success, if we look at all the benefits of band classes we are constructing individuals with drive and passion to do well in school.

If our goal is to help raise our students to be highly educated and well-rounded individuals, the reduction of music class time will only be damaging. Aside from just talking about academics vs. the arts I feel it is important to mention how important the activity is to the students. My high school band program is the reason I had any motivation in school, I was not the smartest in the room when it came to academics so I normally felt pretty defeated.

Several students playing trumpet
in music class

But music classes allowed me to show who I was, I felt seen. Not only did I build upon my knowledge but I made lifelong friendships, memories, and it contributed to my happiness. Many students had another element to consider, and that is that the activity is an escape. There was a student in my band that on the last day of his senior year his parents left him a note saying they wanted nothing more to do with him, he was an adult now and could hold is own. My director let the student stay with him over the summer rent free, and then continued to help him move into his college dorm. If we cut band time would that relationship have been that strong? That is probably one story out of some many just about the community that music classes bring. The next time you have the opportunity to voice the important of the arts I hope you consider all the benefits. Students need music, end of story.