Summer Music Listening

I don't know about educators in other fields but summer months for music teachers is the time we spend listening to new music, trying to find just the right arrangements to fit our ensembles for the coming school year. The problem is that we rarely know for certain who is going to be in these ensembles.

For the middle school it will be questions like: Will there be any boys in the groups, how many hundreds of kids are we talking about, will I have any real sopranos, or altos, can they carry a tune, can they sing about a C (octave above middle c), can the altos and boys hold their voice part, etc.

High school is a little more predictable, especially if you have an auditioned group. But sometimes the scheduling doesn't work out, or their family suddenly moves during the summer and your star basso profundo is suddenly gone from the school.

The summer music listening is also the time that drives my wife crazy! My listening habits usually include 15-30 second snipits of songs. I figure if it doesn't grab me in the first 30 seconds it's not going to happen. Some songs you know in the first 5 seconds that it's not right for you, or your group, and others may take the full 30 seconds. Occasionally I'll listen to what I consider to be a really corny song, and I'll leave it on for the entire recording, just to see how long it will take my wife to comment on it. (Not very long I may add!).

I also do some listening for my church choir. I've found that I really like the music from Beckenhorst Press. Their composers have some really nice anthems, IMO, and I've ordered many of them with great success and happiness.

As we begin the final month of freedom before school starts I'll pick up my pace of music listening. I do this so that my wife is thoroughly ready for me to return to school/church, so she can begin her period of relaxation and quiet.