Ep. 3 - The MOST IMPORTANT Day of the Year

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Greetings and salutations, friends, and welcome back to the Team East Loss podcast, episode three. My name is Doug Bush, and today I'm joined by Patricia Islas and Zach Scheer. And this is the podcast for anyone looking to better themselves in percussion education. Today's episode, it's all about the most important day of the year. Mr. Scheer, what is the most important day of the year?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

The most important day of the year, Mr. Bush, is the day you select the students that will be in your beginner percussion class. Yes, sir. Yes, right. Whatever grade that is, fifth grade, sixth grade, for most of you, I'm a Assuming you're meeting these students at the end of fifth grade or they're going into sixth grade. So just a few reasons why is this the most important day of the year. Number one, you do not ever get a second chance at this. You do not ever get a second chance. And once you pick those students, it's done. They are there. Everything else you do, all of the other topics we're going to talk about on this podcast are downstream of this. You can have wonderful teachers, wonderful method books, all these great systems to implement. But if you, for whatever reason, don't have the students who are best suited to be great percussionists, there's just going to be kind of a cap on what you can achieve. I also think it's important to mention that there's like a dichotomy going on here. Not only is that the most important day of the year, but it's the thing that as a percussion educator, either at the college you went to, or maybe in your like, um, professional education as a percussion director. Now it's the thing that probably never got addressed. Um, it's the thing that was probably never discussed in your music ed, um, education is like how to select beginners specifically for the percussion class. Um, it's also, you know, because it's the most important day of the year. Um, it's so important that you have a great relationship with the people who are involved in this with you, uh, the middle school band directors. And I know miss East loss, that's something that you, uh, have had a lot of insight on and a lot of different schools.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, having the opportunities to see inside a lot of different programs in various different districts. One of the benefits, I think, of being a lesson teacher or clinician or even a ranger coming in and just kind of observing what's happening is it gives me the freedom to detach and observe what some of the problems are that maybe the people involved in the day-to-day don't see. And I would say a big struggle that I have witnessed a lot of directors just go through with the audition process and the selection process relates to their relationship with the other members of their team, the other band directors. And so it's actually you, Mr. Shearer, who pointed me at a man named Chris Voss, who is... He's

SPEAKER_01 3:16

awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Who is Chris Voss?

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Chris Voss is, okay, I'm going to get this right. I believe he's a former FBI head hostage negotiator. Right. And specifically, I was introduced to him on the master class. I don't have this website or whatever. Yeah. But shared that with you, Ms. Eastloss. You did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

And I loved it. I've listened to some other podcasts of his. But one of the takeaways from what I've learned from him is when you're going in to discuss something with people that maybe you have a different opinion on band directors on selecting percussionists or other members of the ensemble you need to go in and first make it very apparent that this is a problem that the two of you are trying to solve together and you may have different ways at solving that problem but it is a team effort and it's not adversarial and I think that tone even if it's just in passing or certain conversations is really important to be be mindful of. If when you see that band director at the beginning of your day, it's really pleasant and they are clearly happy to see you and you're happy to see them, then difficult conversations that might arise won't be such such an issue to solve. But if it is already a little bit of a tense place when you walk into that environment for whatever reason, then trying to ask for things or trying to work together is going to be a lot more difficult. So that process is obviously going to start before you get into this part of the season, part of the year, but it is something to be really mindful of.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Yeah. A hundred percent, you know, going, going, hearkening back to an earlier podcast where we talked about, um, day one is earlier than you think it is. So this is a good example of that. Like have that conversation with your middle school band directors a month before you think you should. And I think it's worth saying here before we move on, just have the conversation, like have it. That's half, that's half the battle. Sit down and let's talk about it. Um, so one thing, you know, so if this is the most important day of the year, okay. Um, A very kind of high-level topic that always comes up is how many students should I have in my beginner percussion class? Obviously, that's going to look different in everybody's situation. Some people are going to be at big schools, small schools. Also, the number of middle schools you have is going to come into play here. One thing that I think is important to consider that is not often included in this conversation is should you specifically and only tie the number of students you're going to place in your percussion to the number of kids that are going to be in the band as a whole? My answer would be no. I think that's an important consideration. Obviously, if there's 100 kids in the band, we can't have 25 percussionists. So that's clear. However, I do think something that should be given equal weight is... How many kids do I want to have at the high school level? And then work backwards to figure out how many kids you want, ideally, in your percussion class. And let's shoot for that number. And you know what? Every middle school band situation is different. Maybe that doesn't tie exactly to how many kids that middle school band director wants in their program. And if it doesn't, I just think that's an important part of the conversation you have with that middle school band director. Again, I'm not saying you shouldn't tie it at all to that number. the number of kids in that middle school band, but I just would hesitate to go, oh, if it's always a certain percentage of kids in the middle school band, I would hesitate to do that. I just think that's an important thing to consider. Personally, we're just talking raw numbers. I was not very comfortable going over 10 students. In an ideal situation, I felt like more than 20 hands to pay attention to was getting to be a lot. Now, I recognize there are certainly people in situations where you might feel like you need to do that, but going above 10 or below six, I always felt like I was really going to think long and hard if I had to do that. Another consideration that I know has always come up for me when I've talked to people about this, either in clinics or at TMEA or just out to dinner or whatever is, hey, should I make an effort to balance my class with like half boys and half girls? Or if I had a lot of girls one year, should I have more boys the next year or vice versa? And I think that's an important thing to think about all All of this, these are all important things to think about.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah, Mr. Shirk, can I jump in on that a little bit? Please do,

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Ms. Islas.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, so there's obviously a mindfulness right now, thankfully, of more inclusion in percussion in general. Things have definitely changed since I was in the sixth grade and as a beginning percussionist because of that. And I think it is important to address that with regards to selecting your beginning class. I just wanted to speak a little bit about my personal experience as a sixth grader, or I guess as a fifth grader, and then compare that to Mr. Scheer's method and philosophies. When I was in the fifth grade, I was very fortunate that the selection process did not... I guess the method and the philosophy of that audition process was choose the right student for the right instrument. And if there had been some... preconceived selection based upon gender or piano experience, of which I had none, or even personality traits. I was a very shy and introverted kid. Then I might not be here today doing what I'm doing now. I'm very thankful that it was selected by, there was a test, an oral test. I don't remember the specifics of what was on it. I just remember I scored very high. I was told, I think I got a perfect score. And then the second day when the band directors came to my elementary school and tested all the students and I did the percussion exercises on the table or the bench, I guess I scored very high on that as well and was selected for percussion. And that was kind of... I don't believe then it was intentional to select students based on gender or background or any of those things. Because when I got into the class, there was a fairly diverse group of kids, which was then highlighted as I accelerated through the program. As I got to the high school, the classes before me demonstrated a good group of diversity. There were girls on every member of the battery. The drumline captain for two years before I was the drumline captain was female. And so my experience in middle school and high school was one of maybe a little bit advanced level of diversity, which I think was important to me seeing that And I think that mirrors what you, Mr. Schreier, have done with your selection process through the years in a sense of choosing students that excel at the skills that you're trying to test for. And with that, you will have students of all different kinds of backgrounds and genders and a good group of diversity of students who can thrive because they're still suited for those types of skills, which we then saw when you get to your high school students, which you had in a very similar manner of what I experienced, girls in every section of the drum line, girls that excelled in percussion ensemble and solos and all region, along with the boys, and a variety of different, like... backgrounds economically and from different places of the world.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

One of the things I think is hard just in general about screening beginners and knowing, because I always had this thing like, am I doing this right? Am I doing a good job? And it's hard because you don't have hard numbers necessarily to look at and gauge. You don't have data over time. It's not like I can go, okay, I've got 10 years of data on the kids I said no to and the kids I said yes to and what did they end up doing? It's hard, right? So I always thought like, if I do get to, say I take my juniors and seniors every year and I look at them and I go, man, I really do have a pretty wide range of guys, girls, whatever, all the kinds of diversity that might come to me in those students that want to be in the percussion class. If my screening is really like what I want it to be, which is I take something you said, Missy Sloss, I'm choosing the right kid for the right instrument. If my screening really, really is that, then there will be a pretty even representation to everybody.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

If

SPEAKER_02 12:30

10 years in a row, I looked at my junior and senior class and they were all boys who look just like me might be a problem, might be an issue. Or if they were all girls, that might be an issue. You know, like, oops, I think I had my thumb on the scale there somehow. But yeah, you know, my experience at Coppell, I'm just thinking back here, you know, more than 50% of the students who tapped the snare line at Coppell during my time there were girls. They were awesome. Um, and I, I didn't really, it didn't, uh, there was no like a conscious effort to make, uh, we want to have a girl in the center of the snare line, uh, that, that didn't happen. Uh, there was no conscious decision like that, but it, it just happened that way because they did an amazing job. You know, um, I have definitely had beginner classes that skewed one way or the other. I've definitely had beginner classes of mostly girls, beginner classes of mostly boys. Um, And I think there's a good evidence that, like I said, those students all went on at upper levels or just in their higher grades to do really awesome things, guys and girls. And so, yeah, I never, so just to be very specific about like, I know some people do make a conscious effort and they have very good reasons for wanting their class to be shaped a certain way with personalities or things like that with balancing between boys and girls. That was not ever something I tried to implement specifically. And I always found that even though I wasn't trying to go for a certain quota, we always ended up having a lot of great students, boys and girls. So moving on a little bit here, because I... always felt that this was the most important day of the year. I put probably more time and effort into it than was normal or maybe than I thought I might coming into being a progression director. And so I would just stop and suggest here that if as we go on and describe the process of the beginner screening that I used at Coppell, if you're like, oh man, that sounds like that takes a lot of time Yeah, to be honest, it did take a lot of time. And I would argue that maybe it is of such importance that you could give more time to it than maybe other things. And that might not be realistic, but I just think that's something that's important to mention. So yeah. I implemented a two-step screening process at Coppell. I met the kids sort of in the cattle call first time. Everybody's coming in. There's 14 instruments they're going to try. And then I would take a smaller group of students from that first screening and test them in a second screening. I implemented that because I just wanted to be sure, again, going back to what you said, Ms. Eastloss, I really cared a lot about making sure I got the right kid on the right instrument. That is the goal. I don't want to put anyone in the percussion class who should not be there. And something I said to middle school band directors, you talked about dealing with middle school band directors and making sure that we're all on the same team. I told middle school band directors like, hey, if I've got, I mean, I would have days where I would see over a hundred students that wanted to be in the percussion class. I'm supposed to pick 10. We started at eight, we ended at 430. Yeah, that's

SPEAKER_00 15:58

a lot. That's a long day.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

And you want me to really pick like 10%. That's hard. So I felt like, okay, I have two options. Either I can narrow this down and do a second screening to do my absolute best to get the right kid on the right instrument. Or at that first screening, I can just do my best to take the smartest kids and the kids that I think are going to be the most high achieving in the room. And I'm just going to scoop them up and I might not get some that are perfect percussionists. Maybe they would actually be better in the clarinet class or the oboe class or whatever, but I have no choice. And I would say, hey, middle school band director, I don't want to do that. That's not best for your middle school band. It's not best for my percussion class, but to be honest, I'm not sure there's any, any other option unless I do a second screening. So me doing a second screening is going to help to be sure I'm not put in a situation where I have to take that kid who should actually play hobo.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Um, like help

SPEAKER_00 16:54

me.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah. Like help me help you here. We're on the same team. We're trying to achieve the same goal. Um, So what did that two-step screening process actually look like? So the first day that I would meet the students, again, this is typically like a cattle call. We were getting lots of fifth graders coming in, usually with their parents. What is the goal here? The goal is only one thing, to find the students I'm sending on to the second screening. That's the goal. For me, it was approximately 30. I knew there would be some that wouldn't show up. Um, and from that second screening, I wanted to turn more away than I accepted. So, um, what's the goal here? Cast a wide net, uh, make sure I communicate who's coming to the second screening. So,

SPEAKER_01 17:42

uh, Mr. Shearer. Yes,

SPEAKER_02 17:43

sir.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

In this process, we're, uh, uh, not trying to jump ahead or anything, but in, in the first year, you know, something that comes up with a lot of educators, uh, specifically in percussion is piano experience, you know? So how did you, how did you feel or, you know, that, you know, that's, how did you approach that subject with the incoming kids.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Yeah. So here comes little Patricia. She's going to be in, she wants to be in the percussion class. Excellent. One of the questions I'm going to ask her is, hi, welcome little Patricia. Have you, I wouldn't call you little.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Oh, you would have definitely gotten a look if you'd called me little.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Sorry about that. I'm sorry. Have you ever taken piano lessons?

SPEAKER_00 18:24

No, I have not.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

You haven't. I have. Oh, little Doug, you have. Okay. Doug, Yeah. Yeah. Other people may find different. I was always surprised by how many kids had no idea. And then I would just say, okay, how many years have you taken piano? Nine.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Oh,

SPEAKER_02 18:59

okay. So, Mr. Bush, my answer to that question is trust but verify. You know, like your piano experience. Now, if I point to it and they're like, A, C, oh, by the way, that's in, you know, E minor. I'm like, okay,

SPEAKER_01 19:14

yes. Again, I guess more of my question is, again, me having a background in piano. I can remember a percussion director that we all love and respected, Meyer, and him talking about how intense his screen, and there was a literal math test involved, and thinking to myself, I would not pass it. I never would have gotten this. And it's like Patricia just said earlier, if it was a requirement, she might not have been selected. So I guess that's more of my question is how much did you wait it?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Yeah, I think I can answer that question by saying this. I don't think there should be any one single deal breaker in this process. You know, Missy Sloss, you've listed like I was shy. I didn't have piano experience. Mr. Bush, you said I would have failed the math test. Obviously, you guys have been pretty successful as percussionists in your life, right? So there's some things right there that I know. I've talked to people who like maybe those were deal breakers for them. I think this is an art, not a science. I know a lot of guys are really big on using like numbers. And I assign And I think using numbers is good, but it's not a science.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Yeah. I think that's

SPEAKER_00 20:25

important. That is

SPEAKER_02 20:26

important. So in that first screening, Doug, if you were to come up to me as a sixth grader, the first thing I would ask you is just your name. I would say, hi, I'm Mr. Shearer. What's your name? And I think you can learn a lot from a student just by how they answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah. And for the listeners, Mr. Shearer stuck his hand out, which I think is also personally very important. You're going to bring some hand sanitizer with you, clean up after you get one of these kids. But yeah, you look the kid in the eye, you ask them a question, you stick your hand out. Do they look at their parents? That's right. And especially

SPEAKER_02 21:11

in the year 2024, some kids just like they are not comfortable with you looking at them in the eye and talking to them. And again, for me, there may be a difference for other people for me. if that student, if they cannot handle close up quasi intense communication from me, they're not going to do well in my class because that's kind of a distinctive of my classroom environment. So it's just a sign. This might not be the right class for them. So, um, hi, what is your name? I get to learn a lot from that. Second question. Why do you want to be in the percussion class again? I mean, I could write a book about this, you know, um, a lot of real, sometimes really funny. Um, sometimes they'll just say, I don't want to be when my mom made me come over here

SPEAKER_00 21:53

yeah

SPEAKER_02 21:54

that screening's gonna last about 30 seconds

SPEAKER_00 21:56

you know that'll save you some time that question

SPEAKER_02 21:58

seriously yeah I'm looking to save some time here I've got a line of kids out the door um so uh why do you want to be in the percussion class great uh we talked about that good um The next thing I would kind of throw in here is to say, okay, well, let me tell you a little bit about the percussion class. And based on that second question, like you said, Ms. Eastloss, I may or may not even use this. But if I think that they're a potential candidate for the class, I'm going to, scare is not the right word, but I'm just going to like, my classroom environment, my classroom environment tended to be a little, very quiet, maybe a little bit intense, and serious, right? So I just want to give them an idea of what the classroom environment is like. That might be different for other people, but I'm going to tell them, hey, in my class, you're going to come in, you're going to be quiet, you're going to set up, you're going to bring your stuff every day, and if not, you're going to be asked to sit out.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

And as someone that has been fortunate, and I think Missy's asking back me up here, to see inside so many outstanding programs in the area, and almost universally have every great educator that we've worked with Cite the beginning class as the most important. I mean, I remember Mr. Lemish, Mike Lemish at Argyle once saying, the high school is the reward you get for what you did with your beginner class. Amen. Right? Amen. Some people I know, having been in this activity, will have heard what Mr. Scheer just said and be like, oh, well, where's the fun? The class is meant to be fun. And I can say with 100% certainty, those students were having fun. Yeah. Just as they were in other educators, great educators that we've worked with that have also held their beginners to a high standard and had that maybe this is a place of business type atmosphere with the beginners. Fun is not always like pizza parties and whatever. Fun is like doing something good at a high level. And for some of these younger students, it's like this is the class. You see that excitement that they have because they know they're going to be pushed. They're going to be held to a high standard. They're getting opportunities to do things really, really well that they're not getting in other places.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Yeah. And I think having that high standard or having that higher expectation of the students doesn't mean that it's always serious. There are moments that they're fun and silly because they're sixth graders, right? But there's just a consistent through line in every class. There's a certain approach and method and style that you're introducing in an honest way in this first introduction to the student. And I really like that about it because you're not hiding anything. You're not gatekeeping anything. Like, oh, it's going to be fun and rainbow and sunshine. And all of a sudden, the first day of class, it gets really serious then the student at that point is going to realize oh no what did I get into this maybe isn't for me it's better if they realize this when they're meeting you for the first time

SPEAKER_02 24:42

absolutely yeah and I heard you both say the word standard and I think that's what I was just trying to communicate in that moment to the parent and the student like there is a very clear standard in this class and some kids like they get excited by that yeah they're like oh wow okay and you see their parents kind of like yeah and I'm like yes these are my people you know

SPEAKER_00 25:00

yeah because they already get it

SPEAKER_02 25:01

they get it and they might be looking for that specifically you know But I've also had students in that moment. I had a student one time look right at me and go, I don't think this is for me. And I was like, hey, that's awesome. You're really smart to think that. Yeah. The next two questions I would ask them are, what's your favorite class in school? You'll get a pretty generic answer to that one, but then what is your least favorite class? And again, maybe not a deal breaker, but a red flag to me here was if a student said, well, let me tell you about Mrs. So-and-so, my math teacher, or let me tell you about Mr. So-and-so, my math teacher or my geometry teacher. And they started to tell me about their teacher and why they don't like their teacher and yada, yada, yada. And so I just, that was a little bit of a red flag to me that maybe this student might not be right for my class if their answer to what's your least favorite class was about their least favorite teacher so the next thing I want to communicate to the parents specifically but also to the student in this process is that again as a theme of this podcast we're trying to choose the right student for the right instrument the illustration I would use for that is that we're like it's like trying on shoes right you go into the shoe store there might be 10 pairs of really cool shoes but if you put one on and it doesn't fit your foot regardless of how cool it looks we're not wearing that out of the store yeah right you know and I would just tell them hey instruments are the same way you don't want to wear around uncomfortable shoes every day you don't want to come to an instrument class you know to a band class that's wrong for you every day so I think that's a pretty simple way that they can understand it's an experience they've all had and again I'm speaking to the parents in this moment too I think it's important to mention I'm like I'm making eye contact with the parents I'm allowing them to ask questions if they have it it's really important that they are on board they can be your greatest ally in this process so now we're going to talk about moving on and actually picking up the sticks right so everybody has their own methods here and I don't think the specific exact method you use is the most important thing as much as that whatever specific thing you do you're getting to assess these different like content areas or these different skills here so the first is just their grip I had my specific way that I would have have them pick up the sticks and model what I'm doing with my hands and get their grip set the way I wanted it. This just gives me a chance to go like, does this student have hands that work for drumsticks? And I wish I could articulate that from a muscular or skeletal way or whatever, but sometimes kids just pick up sticks and you're like, I don't think this is right for you. Physically, I just don't think this is right for you. Not different than what they're doing on the other instruments. They're looking for, does their mouth fit a specific mouthpiece correctly Right. Middle school band directors are experts at this, you know, big mouthpiece versus little mouthpiece, that sort of thing. So once we get their grip set, the next thing without any time or metronome or anything that I'm looking at is a very basic introduction of a rebound stroke and just trying to see, can this student naturally get the stick to rebound? This is usually like pretty loosey goosey. Their fingers probably aren't wrapped around the stick, that kind of thing. But some kids just rebound the stick very naturally and And my experience teaching beginners year after year after year has been that if a student really struggles for whatever reason with just that sensation or that skill of getting the stick to rebound naturally, that can be a big roadblock in the beginning of the year, which is a crucial time. So I want to test for that. After that, we're going to move into, again, kind of some basic content areas and whatever you do specifically might look different. But I'm going to turn on the metronome and see, can they tap their foot with the metronome? We're not playing along with this initially. We just want to see, does this kid have at least a basic ability to get their foot in time with the metronome? After that, we're going to do some basic like four on a hand, eight on hand exercises. Sometimes I would do like an eight and then seven, six, five, four, three, two, one sort of countdown exercise to see if they can handle that. Give kids who are a little more advanced an opportunity to show that off. And at this point in the screening, I've got a pretty good idea of whether or not this student is going to be, again, for me, going on to the second screening. If you only have one, you probably have a pretty good idea of whether or not this kid is a candidate for their percussion class. I think it's important right here to say, sort of in the middle of the screening, if they're like knocking it out of the park, it's time to stop and smile and tell them, hey, and their parents right now, because it's like, it's obvious to you, but they don't know. Yeah. They have no point of reference. Yeah, they have no point of reference. Their kid might be amazing at this or their kid might be like the worst. They just don't know. And so if they're doing a really good job, I want to stop and I want to go, oh my gosh. this is really good. This is like, you're, you're, you're very gifted in this. You know, I try to stay away from like, you're the best I've seen all day, or you're so much better than everybody else that's come this morning. Right. Cause that's not really what we're going for, but like you, man, this is the right place for you. If

SPEAKER_00 30:19

you notice a student like that, uh, fairly early into the process, would you then like, okay, we're going to end it. I got everything I need. Or would you continue and fill, uh, any of the other requirements?

SPEAKER_02 30:29

No, I think it's really important to, to stop as early as you know you're going one way or the other. Because it sends a message. I think it's really good to say, hey, I don't even need to go on through the rest of the screening. I can tell you're knocking it out of the park. This is the right place for you. That makes them really excited. And I've actually done what you said, Missy Sloss. I've gone through the end and then kind of got to the end and gone, oh, man, that's really good. And for some reason, it just doesn't hit home as much. They're not as excited. Like, oh, I was so good. He didn't even go to the end. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 31:00

I think that hits a little harder.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Yeah. And also the opposite is also true. I think it has more impact if you can really tell, hey, this is just not for you. Like tuba might be the right place for you or clarinet or whatever, but this is not it. I'm going to stop right then. And I'm going to as honestly and honestly. sincerely as I can, just tell them like, Hey, you're going to love band, but I know you might, I can tell you, you won't love it. If you end up in the percussion class through no fault of your own, this just isn't the right instrument for you. I want to be sincere. I want to be honest. I want to tell the parents and the kid that right then, you know? Um, so, uh, so, uh, foot tap rebound stroke, and then I'm going to do, um, some basic call and response. If I'm still kind of on the fence, I'm not sure which way this kid's going to go. I'm going to do some basic call and response just to see if they can handle some sort of like very basic syncopation within a timeframe of like keeping something that resembles a pulse. Right. And I'm looking here just for an internal sense of pulse. Some kids like obviously just have that. Some don't. And that's what I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah. If I can hop in there, Mr. Shearer, a couple things. things that, uh, I feel are important to implement, or at least I've implemented in my methods doing this is, um, with like, with all these things is what is my end goal, right? And so what I need this child to do when they are in class is look at the player's guide, which is the beginning resource, obviously that, uh, we use and that hopefully all of you are using as well. Right. And music is a language. Uh, so they have to be able to look at a image on a page to decipher it, and then communicate that through their hands. So part of my process is I have a single page printed out with giant font of the letters X and O in groupings of four. So it might be XOXO or OOXO or XXXO. And I put on a metronome at a very slow tempo, and I just have them tap their foot with the metronome. We do that for a while. And then I have them count with the metronome and their foot tap. One One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. All right, we're crushing it. And then I point at the paper and I say, everywhere there is an X, that is a clap. Let me demonstrate. And I'll demonstrate like the first time. One, two, three, four. You got it? And so we're having a micro lesson here. And then I'm evaluating... essentially a very base level of the skill they are going to be asked to do the majority of their time in the class right and then I end with what you might argue that's the kind of like language analytical side of it I end with the call and response which might be a little bit more the creative artistic side like Mr. Shearer was saying and a process that I would use in that since I'm ending with that I would start with something simple again no foot tap no met get a little more complicated by the third thing maybe there's a triplet involved but then the fourth and final thing I would play I would pause for a second and I'd ram like some Vanguard snare break or something and maybe throw in some back sticking or stick tricks real fast and then I would freeze and the kids eyes would always every time they light up and then they just kind of move the sticks real fast and then they're laughing and their parents are laughing and I'm smiling and it's kind of like welcome to percussion kids you know this can be okay you'll hear from me later and my personal personal goal just like with the bass to finish something. I want to smash every other person in the room that is evaluating every student on every other instrument. Yes, yes. You know, trombone, tuba, clarinet, whatever. When the kid walks out, I want them to be, that is the funnest thing I've done all day. That was the coolest guy all day. I want to be a part of that program. That's what I want to do. And that being said, I want whoever's auditioning in clarinets to do the same thing, right? I want them to treat it in a manner where it's like, when this kid leaves here, I want them to, um, but that, those are two methods that have, have worked very well for me in the past.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Yeah, absolutely. You know, and again, the specifics might look different for Mr. Bush is the Vanguard snare break, you know, but if you, you need to have something that creates this like bond and magical moment between you and the parents and the kid, if that's a student you want in your class, because if not, um, the, the trombone guy might do that. And if he does it and more power to him, if he does it, but if he does it, and actually percussion is the best instrument for that kid, and you don't have some sort of extra little shtick, then that kid ends up going to trombone, and that's not what's best for anybody. So yeah, I just think that's so important. The last thing I'll say on the first screening is you're going to give, at least for me, and if you're doing this process, the two-step screening, at the end of the first screening, you only have two potential answers for this kid and this parent. No, the percussion class is not for you, or maybe welcome to the second screening. And when you give those answers, don't change them. That's important. If you say no, you need to be ready to back that up, honestly, sincerely, and politely. But nothing good is going to come from changing your no to maybe afterwards just because Johnny got upset. And so that's just an important thing that I just think it's good to be prepared for. So if I tell that student maybe, I'm going to be very excited with them. Like Mr. Bush said, I'm going to have something that kind of creates a bond. And I'm going to tell them they are coming to the second screening right there in real time I have a handout that tells them what the second screening is why we do it where it is what time what to expect how to prepare it's got my contact information on it everything all of their questions are answered I'm going to hand them that piece of paper right there and then Because I want control of the process from here forward, I'm going to get their information on a Google form that I have set up on a laptop right next to me. And I found that to be important because if I'm going to do the second screening and like I decided with my middle school band director partner here, because we're partnering together to make this work well, if I'm going to pick the right kids for the right class, I need to make sure communication and all that stuff is happening effectively. So I'm going to get their information. They've already got a handout. I'm going to send another email, and they're going to be invited to a second screening, which takes place at the high school.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Yeah, that's a big deal, at the high school.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Yeah, so Missy Sloss, do you want to talk a little bit about why? I guess maybe it would be good to ask you, what have you seen in some of these second screenings at the high school that works well and maybe creates a little bit more magic for those potential percussion students?

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Yeah, I think, well, first of all, they're coming to the high school, which is a big deal, especially for an elementary school student or parent if they don't have older kids. Just the weight of that place means more. And then they walk into the band hall and they see, you know, potentially all of these awards and trophies on the wall and posters that the kids have put up from different sections and all of that. And that's really effective for someone who hasn't been in a band program before to see for the first time. I think also the collection of all of the students who have made it to the second round, especially if you have multiple feeders, like you have two or three middle schools, it's is a big deal to be like, oh, these kids potentially could be part of the program with you. And look how many there are. On top of the fact that you have access to things like maybe playing a video. For us, it might be a video of the Coppell Drumline Show that the kids and the parents can watch for the first time. Or even better, if you have high school students that are potentially working on solos or percussion ensembles this part of the year, and you have one that's really outstanding or a few that are really outstanding, that you want to perform for the parents and the students to get a sense of this is what you're getting into. It's not just this activity that you're doing next year. It is this long project that you go from not knowing anything about music to being able to play at this extremely high level, this incredibly impressive ability in a very short amount of time. And that's effective, I think, on all fronts for the students to get really excited about what's coming, but also for the parents to see what the time and the financial investment is going to be potentially leading towards.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Yeah, absolutely. I think the way I would say that is I want to show them Yeah, this is your sixth grade percussion class, but it's so much more than that. So let me just give you a little sneak peek here to try to get like hook, line, and sinker like they're in, okay? So these students and parents, again, they're your biggest ally here, right? Students and parents are gonna show up at the high school. I'm gonna have a big arc of pads set up, potentially like 30 pads with music stands in front of them. I would do 15 stands. I would do one stand to each pad, or sorry, one stand every two pads, right? On that music stand is going to be a page of stickings. This would be from level two of the player's guide. Stickings that are straight out of the beginner book they're going to use. I would also have on their music stand, kind of like they do for name tags at all region band, there's a piece of paper folded hanging over the music stand. And on the front of it, which is facing the conductor or the teacher, it says Doug Bush. But in this scenario, I'm just going to have an I and an O on the music stand. And so, When I start the screening, I'm going to have 30 eyes facing me. That's what I'm going to have. All of those are facing me. There's the eye facing me, the piece of paper is folded in half, the O is facing the student. And I'm going to start this screening talking to, again, parents and students. I'm going to give a really positive, but also very clear spiel about how we are here not to find who's the best. This is not a competition. We are here to make sure that You have an awesome experience in band. Band is going to be your favorite class no matter what because we're going to make sure you get on the right instrument. And if that's not percussion, that's good news for us tonight because we're going to find that out. If it is percussion, that's good news too. Again, I'm kind of setting them up for if I end up saying no to you, right? So then I'm going to move on and I'm going to start screening these students. So I'm going to do some things that are similar to what we did in round one. Again, the specifics for you might be different. I'm going to move into some more complicated like sticking patterns out of level two of player's guide. I'm going to do a lot of down the line. I'm going to evaluate students foot tap a little bit closer. We're probably going to have them clap clave at some point while they're tapping. tapping their foot to really see who can handle some more advanced syncopation. And as this process goes on, I'm looking for things that I know, oh, you know what? That's not gonna work. That student probably is not best suited for the percussion class. Without saying anything, I'm just gonna calmly, politely, indiscriminately go over and turn that piece of paper over. So instead of the I facing me, now the O is facing me. The student's out. And I'm gonna let them just keep going. keep going. We're not going to say anything about it. I'm not even maybe going to look at them while I do it, but I'm going around. And as I see things that clearly don't work for the percussion class, I'm changing those eyes to O's at the same time. I'm looking for things that clearly like, okay, that kid's in, they, they clapped clave forwards and backwards off the right and off the left foot tap. Wow. Like Johnny, let's go. You are in the percussion class. And as soon as Johnny does something like that, that tells me like, Oh, this kid is in, I'm just going to say, Johnny, could you have a seat please? So As I'm looking, because 30 kids is a lot to look at all at once, right? And you don't want this to go on for an hour. True story, I had a kid faint once during this process. She ended up, for the record, she completed all the way through band. She was a wonderful student. But she fainted during this process, which told me I was maybe going a little too long. So I'm coming from both ends, right? I'm cutting kids, essentially, and I'm placing kids. kids in the class by having them sit down or by changing their paper from I to O. As soon as I get to my desired number, or as soon as I feel like, hey, maybe I'm not quite to my desired number, but I am confident these are the right kids for the class and the other ones deserve to not be placed in percussion. They do need to go to another instrument. I am going to go, okay, cool. Everybody put their sticks down. We're done. And then I'm just going to calmly and politely without any reference to what's actually happening, I'm going to say, okay, if you are sitting down, I would like you to take yourself and whoever came with you here, your parents, and go into that room over there. And in the Coppell High School band hall, the way this worked for me was I had an ensemble room set up with chairs. waiting for those students. So they would go and then I would be left with the majority of the people who came that night. And I would say, first of all, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for coming up here on a random Tuesday that you didn't have on your calendar until about a month ago or whatever. And, um, I want to reiterate to you that band is going to be your favorite class. I would go over all that again. And I would say, but I'm confident that percussion is not the right instrument for you. And, um, If you have any questions for me about that, I have about one minute that we can talk right here, or you can email me my information. You have my information. But you already know, and this is an important thing, before that student comes to that second screening, they have to already know and be excited about what instrument they're going to play if it's not percussion. So that middle school band director knows, hey, Zach's not just turning kids away and saying, go to another class. But then one of the most beautiful things, and I'll just say, sometimes that's hard. Sometimes kids cry.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Sometimes

SPEAKER_02 45:12

parents are maybe not happy. I think it's important that your process was very transparent, the parents got to see it, and then that you're willing to have those conversations maybe later if necessary. That's okay. But then... I'm going to walk into this ensemble room with these approximately 10 kids and their parents who still aren't sure what's going on.

UNKNOWN 45:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

And I am going to walk in there with the biggest smile on my face. And I'm going to announce like, as I walked out to them before the doors even closed behind me, it's like, it's basically like you won the lottery. Like you're in the percussion class, you know, and I have had kids and parents jump up and cheer.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

What a cool, way to start.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Yeah. And so like at this point I could say you're in the percussion class and I need a, I need$5,000 from each of you right now. And they would just be like, yes, let's go. You know, like they're just so excited. Um, so I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to ask for$5,000.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Uh, uh, not to step on your toes here, but when Mr. Wynn would do this, there are two great things that, you know, he would, there would often be a high schooler in there with a marimba or snare drum that, uh, like a senior or something that would just throw down for like one minute, some virtuosic for mallet thing or some snare break thing and again kind of to Missy's last point hey this is what you're investing in this is the future they're all just like you know but one thing that Mr. Wynn did that also is great is he would have a giant QR code up already that had here's the beginner packet just like yo scan this right now and it has your six mallets your player's guide all the stuff you need

SPEAKER_02 46:49

yeah absolutely I mean that's again you've got control of the process here right not because we're trying to like take control away from middle school band directors but because I want this to go really well right and it's in the best interest of everybody that it goes really well so yes and amen QR code with the beginner package for them to buy right now ready to go this is also a time where I would give all of the requirements for the percussion class like I'm gonna tell these kids I'm gonna look at these kids in the eye and say hey we're so excited yada yada yada this is great can I just stop for a moment and tell you I just turned some of your friends away. And that's not because they did anything wrong. It's not because you're better. But there are some kids walking away right now who are sad. So I want to tell you right now, this is something I'm going to ask you to commit to. This is something you've been chosen for. And I'm going to ask you to practice. I'm going to ask you to take lessons. I'm going to ask you to take it seriously. And if that, at this very last moment, if that's something that maybe you're not into, we can talk about that. But I'm basically going to get a commitment from the students and parents. I'm going to have the students walk up. And again, this is like a positive thing. Like they're super excited to do this, walk up and sign their name on this piece of paper. That's like, yes, I'm in this club. Right. It's like so cool. I'm also going to talk about private lessons to the parents. and just in general about the financial commitment. Again, this looks different in every program. I was telling parents, hey, I hesitate to use the word required, but I would use every word up to required to take private lessons because I felt that it was so important. A lot of times I would run into, believe it or not, students who are already doing some sort of drum set lessons at the music store down the road or whatever. I would say, that's great. I'm sure That's been really fun. Um, if you're going to be in the sixth grade percussion class that needs to stop now. And, and I just, I know that might, you know, like, Ooh, ah, but I just, I've had so many kids come in with maybe a preconceived notion of what the class was going to be, or just with some technical things that were really hard to, um, to get rid of. So, uh, that's just where I would give the parents like the real deal. Here's what's going on, you know? Um, and, uh, And then when that night is over, I know that I have, call it 10 kids and parents, who are sold out on everything I'm gonna be asking them to do, even when the class is hard. They are like hook, line, and sinker, really excited about what is gonna happen in that sixth grade percussion class. So again, that's like the process at a very detailed level. Whether or not you're able to do a two-step process at your school, there are some high-level things that step process was designed to produce. And I would encourage you to focus on those things and ask yourself if what you're doing now is getting those things. And if it's not, then it's probably time to make a change. And don't hesitate. Get in there. Make a change. Go for it.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Yeah, I think, and we've discussed this before, but I think all of us would agree that in terms of things that should be prioritized throughout the entire year and things to give your attention to, this is most likely number one on the list because it literally is the beginning of everything.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

Absolutely. And you know, I'm a big fan of saying like only do what only you can do. And so that means I'm more than happy to delegate a lot of things, a lot of things. Like I'm going to make an effort to delegate everything I can. This was something I felt like was really important for me and only me to do. Now there, there absolutely were years where I just had a scheduling conflict or whatever, and I needed to bring in a trusted person to help me with it but i tried not to try not to do that

SPEAKER_01 50:40

yeah absolutely absolutely thanks for hanging with us today everyone if you have any questions for the podcast send them to team islas at gmail.com that's team islas t-e-a-m-i-s-l-a-s at gmail.com shout out to all the great percussion companies that support team islas mapex majestic percussion Ooh, I love those marching bass drums. Remo drum heads, Bomarck sticks and mallets, Sabian cymbals, Beatle percussion, and Lotrite apparel. And Mr. Shearer, when selecting a method book to use with your beginning percussionist, what's the only serious option?

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Player's Guide for the Beginning Percussionist.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

That's right, that's right. Ms. Cieslas, what's one reason why the Player's Guide for the Beginning Percussionist is the correct choice for teaching your beginners?

SPEAKER_00 51:28

Well, the layout was designed with the user in mind, with the drum book and the mount book separated, but with easy access to both.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Yeah, absolutely, guys. Listen, you can pick up a copy of the Player's Guide... And if you can play a five-lit grid off the left with a diddle on every third partial, then give us that five-star review. Remember, friends, step one is time, step two is sound, and step three is subscribing to the Team Eastloss podcast.

UNKNOWN 52:12

Ah!