(To view newsletter PDF, visit “Newsletter” in top menu, Volume 36.2)

Summer Music Clinic: a Virtual Symposium June 14-18, 2021

The 75th Indiana University Summer Music Clinic, led by Director Jason Nam, will be in the format of a virtual symposium. Band and orchestra students currently in grades 8 through 12 are eligible for the music clinic. Improve your musical skills and learn from some of the best educators in the country!

Classes offered: daily group instrumental lessons; six masterclass sessions with renowned faculty from the IU Jacobs School of Music and across the country; music electives such as music theory, composition, conducting, jazz improvisation, chamber music, and leadership; and the creation of virtual band, orchestra, and jazz ensemble performance projects in collaboration with Keep Making Music.

Apply TODAY!

A message from Director Jason Nam:

“Due to enrollment at the time of this publication, we are in the difficult position of considering the possibility of canceling the 2021 IU Summer Music Clinic Virtual Symposium, if our set minimums for enrollment are not met. Considering the numerous unknowns and additional challenges on families amid the pandemic, it has been a difficult several months for planning this year’s event with absolute certainty. Regardless, we will proceed into May with all intentions to organize a great virtual clinic experience. We will continue to keep you up-to-date via the IUSMC blog website and by email, as news develops.”

Band Day: to be determined

High School Band Day is an annual event that brings high school bands from across the state of Indiana on the field during halftime for a joint show with the Marching Hundred. Please indicate your school’s interest in High School Band Day HERE. 2021 fall semester classes will be held in-person on campus, but we have not received definitive information from the Athletics Department about Band Day, nor has a campus-wide decision been made about outside entities visiting the campus at the time of this post.

Thank you, Colonel

for 27 years of outstanding service to the IU Marching Hundred

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to Professor David C. Woodley for an outstanding tenure as Director of Athletic Bands from 1993-2020. He continues as a faculty member in the Department of Bands. Read below for some recent statements of appreciation and gratitude from IU Bands Emeritus Faculty Stephen W. Pratt and Ray E. Cramer, as well as current Chair of the Band Department, Dr. Rodney Dorsey.

from Stephen W. Pratt, Emeritus Professor/Director of Bands/Wind Conducting
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music:

. . . “During Professor Woodley’s tenure, the Hundred rehearsed in three different locations and the Band Department moved twice. The new Cramer Marching Hundred Hall is a testament to his relentless efforts to help design a state of the art building that meets the needs of the Marching Hundred in this century.

. . . . Professor Woodley’s former students in the Marching Hundred and the Big Red Pep Band, as well as students from the various concert bands, marching band techniques and arranging classes all knew that he was providing them with important information in a direct and logical way, helping them be better in their chosen careers. Most of all, the students will remember him as “The Colonel,” a special teacher with a big heart they will never forget. Thank you, Professor Woodley, for your long and continuing service to Indiana University and best wishes for improving health and enjoyable future teaching responsibilities.

from Ray E. Cramer, Emeritus Professor/Director of Bands/Wind Conducting
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music:

. . . “Professor Woodley faithfully served [as Director of Athletic Bands] for 27 years with vision, integrity, and professionalism. He was a wonderful colleague, devoted to the Department of Bands and carried out his responsibilities with great success. Professor Woodley established fantastic rapport with his students and I know the members of the Marching Hundred who had the opportunity to play under Prof. Woodley will remember their experiences with tremendous appreciation and respect for Dave’s talent, humor, and leadership abilities.”

from Rodney Dorsey, DM, Professor of Music (Bands/Wind Conducting) and Department Chair:

“On behalf of the current band faculty, I would like to recognize and thank Professor David Woodley for his 27 years of dedicated service to the Jacobs School of Music Athletic Bands. Thousands of IU students have directly benefited from Professor Woodley’s positive and supportive approach to teaching and his well-crafted arrangements. For a number of years Professor Woodley had the unenviable task of leading the Marching Hundred while two former directors of this outstanding organization were still members of the band faculty.

He successfully maintained the Hundred’s legacy of excellence while putting his own stamp on the organization. Several bowl game appearances, multiple performances for professional football games, a Super Bowl, and a Sudler Trophy are among the many honors the Marching Hundred achieved while he was the director. It is clear that Professor Woodley’s work with all of our bands is not for personal gain, but solely for the benefit of the Indiana University students. I have always admired that trait in the IU Band Department faculty members, and it is my honor to serve on this faculty with Professor Dave Woodley.”

With admiration,
Rodney Dorsey

Spring 2021 Concert Band Activities

Concert band ensembles and webinars

In-person ensembles resumed with the IU Band Department offering four 2-week cycles of chamber wind ensemble rehearsals and performances. The maximum number of winds was 12, with additional percussionists, harpists, and string players as needed. Every effort was made to include as many students as these restrictions allowed. All students wore masks and used bell covers, courtesy of the IU Opera & Ballet Theater Costume Shop. Performances were recorded on the last rehearsal day of the cycle and were closed to the public. Programs, recordings, and parts and scores were all available on the Canvas page. Graduate conducting students had many opportunities to hone their skills, as four small groups rehearsed simultaneously in different rooms.

Some repertoire highlights included:

Brass groups directed by Dr. Dorsey worked on standard military band audition repertoire, including sections of Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, Karl King’s Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite, Sousa’s Hands Across the Sea, Hindemith’s Symphony in B-Flat, and more.

Other works included wind serenades by Mozart, Dvorák, R. Strauss, and Emil Hartmann; divertimenti by Hans Gál and Karl Husa; arrangements of The Bach Buch, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and Rossini’s Barber of Seville Suite; adaptable instrumentation arrangements by John Mackey and Julie Giroux; and other chamber music works by Claude Arrieu, Jonathan Dove, Georges Enesco, Jean Françaix, Paul Hindemith, Nicole Piunno, Anthony Plog, James Stephenson, Claude T. Smith, and more.

Webinars were given bi-weekly for remote learners, moderated by the band faculty. Speakers and topics included:

Alain Barker, Director of Entrepreneurship and Career Development at the IU Jacobs School of Music: how his office supports you in career development, entrepreneurship, and community engagement.

Lisa Lizanec Chappell built a multifaceted career as a trombone soloist in theatrical music and chamber music, and created a strong and compelling digital brand as an educator and content creator.

John Raymond, Jazz Studies–Trumpet faculty member: how to make a well-curated and extensive artist presence across the digital platforms, as well as an intentional, focused, and positive presence as an educator.

Jeff Nelsen, Horn faculty member, presented Fearless Performance—master your mental game. Jeff is founder of Fearless Performance LLC, a company that focuses on training musicians and others to consistently perform their best.

Armand Hall, Executive & Artist Director of the ROCmusic Collaborative at the Eastman School of Music: El Sistema and Community Music Making in Education.

Mike Roylance, Principal Tuba of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is on the faculty of Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music as well as the Tanglewood Music Center. He is on the advisory board of Kids 4 Harmony, an El Sistema-inspired program.

Faculty News

Eric Smedley appointed director of athletic bands

In May 2020, Associate Professor Eric M. Smedley was named IU’s new director of athletic bands. The director position includes taking charge of the university’s 300-member IU Marching Hundred, 100+ member Big Red Basketball Band, and all of the associated pep bands that cheer on the many Hoosier athletic teams.

Former chair of the school’s Department of Bands and former associate director of the Marching Hundred, Smedley joined the Jacobs faculty in fall 2011.

“Eric Smedley is a Jacobs School of Music graduate and an alumnus of the Marching Hundred,” said Rodney Dorsey, chair of the bands department. “His tangible connection with the history of the organization and his clear vision for the future will serve our students well.”

Welcome, Dr. Tiffany Galus!

The Department of Bands is pleased to welcome Dr. Tiffany Galus as assistant professor of music in bands and associate director of IU athletic bands, effective July 1, 2021.

Dr. Galus will also teach courses in conducting and wind band literature as well as conduct the Jacobs School of Music’s concert bands. She was previously assistant director of bands at The University of Texas at Austin. A native of northern Indiana, Galus earned M.M. in Wind Conducting and B.M.E. degrees from the Jacobs School of Music. She earned a D.M.A. in Wind Conducting from UT Austin in 2019.

“The appointment of Dr. Tiffany Galus to the IU bands faculty will greatly enhance the experience of our students,” said Rodney Dorsey, chair of the Bands Department. “Her broad knowledge and teaching experience will positively enhance our department.”

Dr. Galus has a comprehensive background in the arts as an educator, conductor, performer, producer and media creator. Also a freelance transcriber, editor, arranger and composer, her portfolio includes more than 100 works for wind ensemble, marching band, pep band, chamber ensembles and show choir, and she has produced more than 75 audio/ video recordings for ensembles and artists across the country in 2020-21.

“I am extremely excited to welcome Tiffany Galus back to Bloomington,” said Eric Smedley, director of IU athletic bands. “Her musicianship, student-centered focus and cutting-edge use of technology will be a wonderful addition to our department. Dr. Galus will be a tremendous colleague.”

“It has been a lifelong dream to join the faculty at the Jacobs School of Music, and I am absolutely thrilled to work with the remarkable students, faculty, staff and community at IU,” said Dr. Galus.

IU‘s Big Red Basketball Band continues tradition, rehearses outside in March

During the spring semester, the Big Red Basketball Band (BRBB) was led by Suzanne Charney and the other graduate assistants while Director of Athletic Bands Eric Smedley was on sabbatical leave. The students engaged in various activities designed to promote the spirit and traditions we have come to know and love in Assembly Hall. While the group was unable to attend games in person, the band watched games together in small groups to talk about a typical game flow and, of course, to exhibit their Hoosier pride.

Students also participated in small group rehearsals, working on the music that accompanies the greatest traditions of BRBB like Sweet Georgia Brown, Sing Sing Sing, and the timeless time-out music of William Tell. When our women’s basketball team left for San Antonio to compete in the big dance, BRBB played Indiana, Our Indiana as the buses left Bloomington.

Ideas from the Podium

Conducting Practice for Daily Improvement

by Dr. Jason H. Nam, Assistant Professor of Music (Bands)

Regardless of grade level, the daily grind of school music teaching, as well as the long list of logistical and administrative concerns of any music educator can undoubtedly result in placing one’s personal development rather low on a priority list. Even amid daily challenges and demands of time that all educators are continuing to face, any music teacher can spend a few minutes a day to improve their ability to communicate effectively through non-verbal conducting gestures. Below are some simple concepts and exercises that may aid in your daily development and fluency as a conductor. If we are expecting our students to work towards daily improvement on their instruments through diligent and thoughtful work on fundamentals, shouldn’t we as conductors expect the same of ourselves with the ways we communicate musical expression through our bodies?

Exercise 1 – Relaxation, stretching, and centering

Stand upright, with your feet generally about shoulder-width apart and become conscious of your body alignment and posture. From here, take a few deep breaths in and out while keeping shoulders low, broad, and relaxed. Begin a slow rotation/head-roll at the very top of your head and neck, and very slowly increase the range of that rotation down through your body with your feet still planted and stable. Move the rotation gradually down, so that your head and neck are rotating gently, followed by the shoulders/hanging arms, followed by a rotation at the waist (by now, you should take a step out in your feet to widen your stance…think of your legs widened to look like a letter ‘A’). Find an ending point where your upper body and arms are now bent over at the waist at this wide stance. Begin to very slowly bring your feet back to shoulder-width position and gradually roll your body upwards to your original posture (still extremely slow), stacking vertebrae by vertebrae until the last thing up is your head. Take a few more deep breaths and exhale to release tension. Draw your focus on this breathing.

Conduct a simple pattern in the right hand, while independently shaping dynamics along the vertical, horizontal, sagittal (forwards and backwards) planes. Conduct with a metronome, and try to shape in multiple ways. Try different tempi, try different styles of articulations in the right hand – quicker, bouncier/drier rebounds for various styles of staccato, more fluid motions for legato, and more illusion of resistance (think of moving the arm/hand/baton through liquid, like chocolate or caramel) for different types of tenuto.

*Video of conducting pedagogue Elizabeth A.H. Green modeling these exercises can be found on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/oZYFi89Ph4g

These are just a few of many types of exercises for conductors to hone their gestural skills. To be clear, I feel that refined and communicative conducting gestures alone cannot completely take the place of all other aspects of successful ensemble music instruction: effective preparation with score study, strong pedagogy, student engagement and positive rapport, to name a few. Essentially, as you may soon be preparing to re-enter larger group music making with your students, remember that the source for the most compelling and effective leadership on the podium comes from a deep understanding of the music, strong aural concept, and clear musical point-of-view. I sincerely hope that this is useful to you, and that we can all begin to see some hope on the horizon for normalcy in ensemble music-making soon!   – JHN

Mystery Tune:

Can you name this tune?

Last Issues’s Mystery Tune Revealed:

The mystery tune in the Fall 2020 Band Notes (Vol. 36.1) was: Ingolf Dahl: Sinfonietta for Concert Band