Our newest staff member, Amy Giampoala, is an accomplished sculpturist (is that even a word?) and would like to invite any and all to her show at Montclair's Brookdale Park in October. The exhibit admission is free (the right price) and the show will be held all day (10:00am - 5:00pm) Saturday and Sunday, October 15th & 16th. If you're looking for some fine crafts (think Pottery), then look no further.
One of the cool things about the Sparta Summer Arts Workshop is that our faculty and teaching assistants are passionate about their craft. A prime example is our TA, BethAnn Putnam, who is involved in ceramic art and sculpture. You can check out her work at the following link:
www.coroflot.com/bethannputnam [ Click on "portfolio" to see all of her projects ] Coopxration
Evxn though my typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works quitx wxll xxcxpt for onx of thx kxys. I havx many timxs wishxd that it workxd pxrfxctly. It is trux that thxrx arx forty-onx kxys that function wxll xnough, but just onx kxy not working makxs thx diffxrxncx. Somxtimxs it sxxms to mx that our band is somxthing likx my typxwritxr – not all thx kxy pxoplx arx working propxrly. As onx of thxm, you my say to yoursxlf, “Wxll, I am only onx pxrson, I don’t makx or brxak thx band.” But it doxs makx a big diffxrxncx, bxcausx a band, to bx xffxctivx, nxxds thx activx participation of xvxry pxrson. Thx nxxt timx you think your xfforts arx not nxxdxd vxry much, rxmxmbxr my typxwritxr and thx missing kxy and say to yoursxlf, “I am a kxy pxrson in this xnsxmblx and I am vxry much nxxdxd.” This is what happxns to thx wholx band at onx timx or anothxr, so nxvxr think your absxncx or xfforts will go unnoticxd. "I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."
- Stephen Grellet "Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being." - Jackie Robinson “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” - Stephen Jay Gould "Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little." - Epicurus "The expert at anything was once a beginner." - Rutherford B. Hayes "We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Ronald Reagan "When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest." - Henry David Thoreau "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'." - Audrey Hepburn "Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very original after all." - Abraham Lincoln "I was born with music inside me. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me - like food or water." - Ray Charles "Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art." - Claude Debussy "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley "Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail." - Leonardo da Vinci "You are the music while the music lasts." - T.S. Eliot "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Semisonic "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair "Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common." - Sarah Dessen, Just Listen "I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy." - Marilyn Monroe "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." - Frank Zappa "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music." - Albert Einstein "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." - John F. Kennedy "People haven't always been there for me but music always has." - Taylor Swift "What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion." - Vincent Van Gogh "Without struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass "Music can change the world because it can change people." - Bono "Literature is like the streets. Never hide anything in the beginning, never reveal anything until the end." - Unknown "Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." - Anonymous "In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.” - Confucius "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." - T.S. Eliot Little Pearls of Wisdom
Embedded Within Crunchy Confections - An unexpected event will bring you riches. - The hard times will begin to fade. Joy will take their place. - Pat yourself on the back for creating an opportunity. - On the right track, means need to run even faster, or got run over. - Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. - Your dream life is rich - listen to your dreams. - When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. - Mistakes show us what we need to learn. - Beauty will surround you - open your eyes to see it. - People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it. - Never quit! - You will be called in to fulfill a position of high honour and responsibility. - You are surrounded by true friends. - Smile to others, honesty and friendship bring you fortune. - Virtuous find joy while Wrong-doers find grieve in their actions. - True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. - Your love light shines on another. - Your relationships could be under stress, sit back and wait. - When you get something for nothing, you just haven't been billed for it yet. - As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled. - An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. - Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Speak softly and sweetly. - You will make a sudden rise in life. - There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved. - There's no boosting a man up the ladder unless he's willing to climb. - There's no point to being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. - When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. - He who throws mud loses ground. - A merry heart does good like a medicine. - Teach only love for that is what you are. - Impatience may be appropriate at this time. - Good health is a man's best wealth. - A new business venture is on the horizon. - Hugs are life's rainbows. - Your income will increase. - If I bring forth what is inside me, what I bring forth will save me. - The greatest achievement is selflessness. - Man has a limitless capacity to achieve goodness. - Before you can do something you must first be something. - As long as you don't sign up for anything new, you'll do fine. - Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart. - They say you are stubborn; you call it persistence. - The intention is not to see through people, but rather to see people through. - Soon you will be sitting on top of the world. - A great man never ignores the simplicity of a child. - Questions provide the key to unlocking out umlimited potential. - One of the best things to do sometimes is simply to be. - Next time, order the shrimp. STORY ONE:
CHARLIE PARKER: “I knew how to play two tunes in a certain key, the key of D for saxophone (alto sax), F concert. I learned how to play the first eight bars of Lazy River and I knew the complete tune to Honeysuckle Rose. I never stopped to think about there being other keys or nothin’ like that. So I took my horn out to this joint where a bunch of fellows I’d seen around were, and the first thing they started playing was Body and Soul, long-meter, you know. So, I go to playing my Honeysuckle Rose and there ain’t no form of conglomeration, you know so … they laughed me off the bandstand … they laughed at me so hard ….. I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I never thought about there being any more keys, you know.” JAMEY AEBERSOLD: It is obvious from the above statements that Charlie Parker didn’t know too much when he started out. Pretty much the same as most of us, I suspect. It is clear that Charlie Parker must have spent some time practicing the right things, listening to the right people, and in general, gathering as much knowledge about music as possible because he very shortly became a legend in his own time. I recommend reading “Bird Lives” by Ross Russell. STORY TWO: JOHN WELCH: “I was eighteen years old and very naïve. I had studied arranging with Bill Russo. I went out to South Dakota to the University there to study music and found myself really unhappy with the situation. I wrote back and forth to Bill Russo and he got me in with Lennie Tristano in New York City for lessons. So, I took the bus to New York and my first weekend in New York I went down to the Village with my horn (trombone) to a club called the Open Door. There was a big sign on the window saying “Jam Session – Sunday Afternoon”. This was Sunday afternoon so I went in with my horn and a group was playing a Blues in F. So I thought, well great, I enjoy playing Blues in F. I put my case on the table, took my trombone out and just walked right up and started to sit in with them. My playing at that point in my life was influenced by George Brunies, a Dixieland trombonist, so I started playing tailgate trombone with this group. They immediately brought Blues in F to a screeching halt and the piano player said, ‘Cherokee in E’ and took it at a tempo you wouldn’t believe. I thought, well that’s cool. I don’t know ‘Cherokee’ and I don’t play very well in that key and I sure can’t play that fast on trombone, so I’ll sit this one out. So, I went back to the table and laid the horn in the case on the table and sat there. Everyone was looking at me as thought cancer had arrived. Finally a guy in the audience came over and started unscrewing my horn, taking it apart and putting it away in the case. And he just looked down at me and said, ‘Kid, you’re obnoxious.’ “The band that day at the Open Door was Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and none other than Charlie Parker himself! “George Wallington was the fellow who came over to my table and dismantled my horn. And after he said that, I got the message! “I realized I had really done something terrible. So they broke the set and Bird came over, came right straight over to my table. I remember him turning the chair around so he was leaning on the back as he faced me. Then he started talking to me. He said, ‘Look kid, what you were doing didn’t really fit in with this group, but you were doing it well. You really were laying it down. That’s great! And you just keep going.’ “Bird was so compassionate in that moment with me when everyone else was ready to kill me. And this struck me very much. As a matter of fact, when I think of Charlie Parker, I would have to say he affected me much more as a human being in my reaction to other human beings at that moment than musically.” JAMEY AEBERSOLD: I feel that these two stories give us an excellent example of someone who seemingly, in jazz, has made it to the top but can still lean over and help the beginner and give encouragement when all else seems to fail. I would like to think one of the finest things jazz education can offer is the dissemination of valuable information to each corner of the music world without any thought of return … The music of Charlie Parker has certainly done this … - "I love the smell of coffee in the morning." (Apocalypse Now)
- "I'm ready for my coffee." (Sunset Blvd.) - "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the coffee." (Now, Voyager) - "Coffee means never having to say you're sorry." (Love Story) - "Go ahead, make my coffee." (Sudden Impact) - "Here's looking at you, coffee." (Casablanca) - "One morning I shot an elephant in my coffee. How he got in my coffee, I don't know." (Animal Crackers) - "Go drink that coffee you drink so well." (Blazing Saddles) - "The stuff that coffee's made of." (The Maltese Falcon) - "We deal in coffee, friend." (The Magnificent Seven) - "Mother of mercy, is this the end of coffee?" (Little Ceasar) - "Nobody puts coffee in a corner." (Dirty Dancing) - "To infinity ... and coffee." (Toy Story) - "I have always depended on the kindness of coffee." (A Streetcar Named Desire) - "Show me the coffee." (Jerry Maguire) - "Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was coffee that killed the beast." (King Kong) - "There's no crying in coffee." (A League of Their Own) - "Well, what if there is no coffee? There wasn't one today." (Groundhog Day) - "A boy's best friend is his coffee." (Psycho) - "I shall call him coffee and he shall be mine. He shall be my coffee. Come here coffee!" (Finding Nemo) - "Hasta la vista, coffee." (Terminator 2) - "Coffee is my favorite. You make me coffee. That makes you my favorite." (Elf) - "Drink, or do not drink. There is no 'try' in coffee." (The Empire Strikes Back) - "I'll get you my pretty, and your little coffee too." (The Wizard of Oz) - "Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back with coffee." (42nd Street) - "Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the coffee." (Knute Rockne, All American) - "You can't handle the coffee." (A Few Good Men) - "Frankly, my dear, I don't give up coffee." (Gone With The Wind) - "Some people can't believe in coffee until someone else believes in coffee first." (Good Will Hunting) - "A coffee. Shaken, not stirred." (Goldfinger) - Perchik: "Coffee is the world's curse." Tevye: "May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover." (Fiddler on the Roof) - "The truth is... I gave my coffee away a long time ago, my whole coffee... and I never really got it back." (Sweet Home Alabama) - "I feel the need - the need for coffee." (Top Gun) - "Coffee cannot be found where it doesn't exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does." (Kissing a Fool) - "Carpe diem. Seize the coffee, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." (Dead Poets Society) - “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your coffee extraordinary.” (Dead Poets Society) - "I'm going to make him a coffee he can't refuse." (The Godfather) - "Keep your friends close, but your coffee closer." (The Godfather Part II) - "May the coffee be with you." (Star Wars) - "Listen to them. Children of the night. What coffee they make." (Dracula) - "You're gonna need a bigger coffee." (Jaws) - "You can't lose coffee you never had." (How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days) - "Say 'hello' to my little coffee." (Scarface) - "A life without coffee, is no life at all." (A Cinderella Story) - "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda had coffee." (On The Waterfront) - "Trouble with a capital "T" that rhymes with "C" and that stands for coffee." (The Music Man) - "Oh yes, the coffee can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it." (The Lion King) - "They're here, with coffee." (Poltergeist) - "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you, for the coffee." (Yankee Doodle Dandy) - "Houston, we have a problem with the coffee machine." (Apollo 13) - "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel like coffee?' Well, do ya, punk?" (Dirty Harry) - "I'll be back; with coffee." (The Terminator) - "If you brew it, he will come." (Field of Dreams) - "I wish I knew how to quit coffee." (Brokeback Mountain) - "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice coffee." (Silence of the Lambs) - "There's no place like coffee." (Wizard of Oz) - "Of all the coffee shops in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." (Casablanca) - “I’m ready for my coffee.” (Sunset Boulevard) - “It’s like, how much more black could this coffee be? And the answer is none. None more black.” (Spinal Tap) - “The coffee never bothered me anyway.” (Frozen) - “We want the finest coffees available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!” (Withnail & I) - "Coffee. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little coffee is effective. A lot of coffee is dangerous. A brew is fine, as long as it's dry roasted." (Hunger Games) Band Quotes from the Sparta Middle School Bandroom
9/11/08 – “The answer is no. Now what did you want?” 10/08/08 – “Just shut up and play.” 10/30/08 – “There are no ‘buts’ in band.” 11/17/08 - “Learn to love the things you hate.” 11/18/08 – “What is that?” 11/19/08 - “Keep your spit to yourself.” 11/20/08 - “God speaks to me through the internet.” 11/21/08 - “That’s it exactly.” 11/24/08 - “Ask not what band can do for you, ask what you can do for band.” 11/25/08 - “Stay healthy, play music.” 11/26/08 - “Fight the midget power.” 12/1/08 - “We’re brass players, we deal in spit and oil.” 12/2/08 - “It’s possible.” 12/3/08 - “Weird, but correct.” 12/4/08 - “It’s on the door.” 12/5/08 - “Thumbs are fingers too.” 12/8/08 - “Make music, not noise.” 12/12/08 – “Use it or lose it.” 2/4/09 – “Blam! That’s it!” 3/17/09 – “Don’t let nobody stomp on yo’ groove bag.” 3/18/09 – “Hit ‘em hard and wish ‘em well.” 3/19/09 – “You’re absolutely wrong about being right.” 3/26/09 - “The sax section, the whole sax section and nothing but the sax section, so help me jazz.” 3/27/09 – “I’m here to teach you… or else.” 3/30/09 – “I let my saxophone do the talking for me.” 3/31/09 – “I’m all over that like a wild dawg.” 4/1/09 – “I’d always rather be playing my trumpet.” 4/2/09 – “I can’t see your horn, therefore it can’t see me.” 4/8/09 – “Go Warriors.” 4/9/09 – “Smoothify or Die.” 4/22/09 – “Work your Mechanism.” 5/1/09 – “Do.” 5/4/09 – “The things rehearsals are made of.” 5/5/09 – “Living in a paralyzed Universe.” 5/6/09 – “It’s my sandwich, Man!” 5/7/09 – “Well, if it’s Jared, then it’s okay.” 5/11/09 – “I read it, therefore it must be true.” 5/12/09 – “Don’t believe everything you read” 5/18/09 – “Protect The Beetle.” 5/19/09 – “Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia” (fear of big words) 5/26/09 – “Why not?” 5/29/09 – “These rehearsals just evolve. They start from scratch and go from there.” 6/9/09 – “π“ 6/10/09 – “It doesn’t matter, just sit down and play.” 6/19/09 – “Ugh. Arrow. Touchdown.” 6/23/09 – “Don’t believe everything you think.” 6/25/09 – “Put down that ukelele and play some music.” 6/31/09 – “Special ‘K’ tastes like krap.” 7/2/09 – “Mallets & Brushes & Bears, Oh my.” 7/7/09 – “Those who don’t know; don’t know. Those who do know; have been there.” 7/9/09 – “Music sounds better when you play the right notes.” 9/8/09 – “Dare to dream? Not here… Don’t you dare dream!” 9/9/09 – “I just made that word up.” 9/14/09 – “Okay, I confess. I know a little French.” 9/16/09 – “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” 9/17/09 – “Crack open the book like an egg and practice.” 9/18/09 – “Chasing the schedule…” 9/22/09 – “Y’all movin’ ta Alabama?” 9/23/09 – “It’s a flute thing, I understand.” 9/25/09 – “Strong; like mallet.” 9/29/09 – “You have many awkward and dolphin-like tools.” 9/30/09 – “I love the smell of valve oil in the morning.” 10/01/09 – “Have no fear. It’s just the reverb.” 10/02/09 – “Mallet Heaven. Gotta love it.” 10/05/09 – “You can tell a lot about a person by the way they agree with you.” 10/06/09 – “You never want to pressure the critical components of your instrument.” 10/07/09 – “I’m a musician. Music hurts my ears.” 10/08/09 – “It’s better to try to hit the high “D” and miss than to never have tried at all.” 10/15/09 – “Oboes and Bells play together well.” 10/22/09 – “Intonation is perspective.” 10/23/09 – “Percussion is life, my friend.” 10/26/09 – “I’m a jerk, but I’m a benevolent jerk.” 10/28/09 – “I are a English Major.” 10/29/09 – “You need to fully apply your rudimental arsenal.” 11/09/09 – “You played that piece like the Giants play football.” 11/10/09 – “You can’t not use congas on Manteca.” 11/11/09 – “Expand your horizons with more cowbell.” 11/12/09 – “I love reverb. Reverb’s like butter on bread.” 12/01/09 – “With key signatures, sometimes two wrongs do make a right.” 12/08/09 – “If you can’t play the note correctly, play it inaudibly.” 12/17/09 – “Keep your words short and sweet in case you have to eat them.” 12/18/09 – “Don’t ask questions that you don’t want to know the answers to.” 1/16/10 – “During each rehearsal, ask yourself the following question, ‘Is my bell up?’”. 2/13/10 – “That sounded good. Don’t do it again.” 3/4/10 – “Trombone is one sweet ride.” 3/5/10 – “FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real.” 3/9/10 – “I need more testromberone” 4/16/10 – “No donuts for Peter” 10/6/10 – “Trombones; everybody means you.” 11/11/10 – “Right notes = Recognizable music.” 11/17/10 – “They’re responding well to treatment.” (referring to the 7th grade band’s status) 11/18/10 – “It’s Harry’s fault.” 1/7/11 – “That was a stately ‘D’. It knocked your music off and everything.” 2/14/11 – “It’s awkward, but cool.” 2/16/11 – “Be unto like Rufus; find your inner metronome.” 2/17/11 – “That was so eight measures ago.” 3/9/11 – “ ‘D’, as in money.” 3/17/11 – “Prepare ye for thy sonic assault.” 3/21/11 – “Back to the business of trumpet.” 3/24/11 – “But. Wait. Okay.” 4/5/11 – “Don’t be gettin’ in my way of gettin’ you better.” 4/11/11 – “Outta sight, outta mind.” 4/15/11 – “It smells like work in here.” 5/3/11 – “I speak for you instrument, ‘Ow, that really hurt.’” 5/6/11 – “He’s texting the President.” 5/13/11 – “Your guess is as good as mine.” 5/17/11 – “Stop having visuals, all of you.” 5/18/11 – “Use them as fills to the next ba-dop.” 5/23/11 – “Music is what feelings sound like.” 5/24/11 – “You need to appreciate the finer things in percussion.” 5/25/11 – “Yabba Dabba Doo – You gotta’ problem wit’ dat’?” 6/20/11 – “Just ask Justin.” 9/21/11 – “Best day ever.” 9/22/11 – “I am BUS! (a local bus driver trying to say that he’s the boss)” 10/10/11 – “Just because I’m wrong doesn’t mean you’re right.” 10/12/11 – “I’m only in your way to educate you.” 10/13/11 – “A little syncopation to brighten your day.” 10/14/11 – “Fingerings will make you wise in the ways of Tuba.” 10/27/11 – “ No sabers in the Bandroom.” 10/28/11 – “I said Hannah not Anna, not Anna not Hannah.” 11/2/11 – “I have my weapon, let’s play music.” 11/3/11 – “Stop dropping your tuba on your head or you’ll have tendonitis in your brain.” 11/9/11 – “That confusion that you speak of would be eighth notes.” 11/14/11 – “Would you like to join my conversation to nowhere?” 11/22/11 – “Timing isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” 11/29/11 – “You’re giving me string cheese when all I want is downbeats.” 12/22/11 – “I just had a convergence.” 1/3/12 – “It’s so true, it’s painful.” 1/11/12 – “Thou Band dost Rock.” 1/18/12 – “Time flies when you’re having band.” 1/23/12 – “ Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three wrongs make a drummer.” 1/30/12 – “Just because you can play loud doesn’t mean you should.” 1/31/12 – “Stop taking yourself seriously.” 2/7/12 – “You have all the musicality of a truck.” 2/8/12 – “The last six measures destroyed some of my brain cells.” 2/13/12 – “There’s no ‘I’ in better part.” 2/14/12 – “Wow, you’re working really hard to play wrong notes.” 2/16/12 – “He’s a jerk, but he’s a good bass player.” 2/29/12 – “Complain first, ask questions later.” 3/2/12 – “My reed is broken and so is my heart.” 3/8/12 – Percussophile (n) (lat.) 1. A very bad person 2. Someone who should stay away from all percussion instruments (this includes many percussionists and all drummers) 3. Someone likely to appear in various police records 3/13/12 – “Pessimism: It’s a way of life.” 3/16/12 – “You’re being a percussophile; wandering around the percussion section, bad-touching everything.” 3/23/12 – “I must be a pessimist – my coffee cup is half empty.” 3/26/12 – “There’s an “I” in bind but not in band.” 3/27/12 – “Stop making fun of me with your eyes.” 3/28/12 – “That’s your most egregious timing error yet.” 3/29/12 – “You made me better which made me worse.” 4/30/12 – “My concert would suck without you.” 5/1/12 – “Thou shalt not kill but Thou shall strive to be killer.” 5/4/12 – “Nothing says “band” like candy.” 5/22/12 – “Don’t look him in the eyes, he’ll just take that as a threat to take a solo.” 5/24/12 – “That wasn’t just a solo, that was an exorcism.” 5/30/12 – “You can’t handle the cut-time.” 9/17/12 – “Don’t complain. No one cares.” 9/20/12 – “Then thou drool will flow freely from thine mouth.” 9/27/12 – “It’s my way or the exit ramp.” 10/3/12 – “ To wobble or not to wobble; that is the question.” 10/8/12 – Q: “How many measures rest is π?” A1: “Come in on the upbeat of one in the fourth measure (in swing).” A2: “In 7/8 or 7/4, it would be 22 counts of eighth or quarter notes respectively.” A2 (a): “Enter on the second eighth or quarter (respectively) of the fourth measure.” 10/15/12 – “Why hast thou Eb’s forsaken me?” 10/16/12 – “Without music, life would Bb.” 10/18/12 – “Shut no it didn’t.” 10/19/12 – “Long Tones: Boring yet effective.” 11/29/12 – “Time flies when you have the melody.” 12/7/12 – “The reward for playing jazz is playing jazz.” 12/10/12 – “I’m surrounded by weirdos and I’m okay with that.” 12/11/12 – “What happens in the Bandroom stays in the Bandroom.” 1/10/13 – “I hate kids, that’s why I’m a teacher.” 1/14/13 – “Every kind of music is great, except the boring kind.” 1/15/13 – “And so, my fellow Band members: ask not what your band can do for you – ask what you can do for your band.” 1/17/13 – Namicks: One volume level. “Die Namicks.” 1/18/13 – “My part is duller than a drummer.” 2/25/13 – “What is going on here?” 2/26/13 – “You’re better than you think you are but you’re not more important than anyone else.” 3/1/13 – “Woodwinds: The Unbrass.” 3/12/13 – “Snare drum is just that background noise that occurs during band music.” 3/14/13 – “Scales are the gateway to musical understanding.” 3/21/13 – “The clarinet will rise again.” 4/8/13 – “The few, the proud, the Woodwind Ensemble.” 4/9/13 – “A high ‘D’ to brighten your day.” 6/10/13 – “Band = Cool” 6/11/13 – “Self-esteem? Overrated. Character? That’s what counts.” 6/12/13 – “In Time We Trust.” 6/13/13 – “Timeliness is next to Godliness.” 9/24/13 – “Your trumpet playing defies the laws of physics.” 10/28/13 – “I love contact sports; football, lacrosse, percussion.” 11/16/13 – “Flutes: The great wall of shrill.” 11/18/13 – “Become one with your posture.” 11/21/13 – “5/4 Time hurts.” 11/26/13 – “The first step to immortality is mortality.” 12/2/13 – “I don’t know what summatives are but I know I don’t like them.” 12/3/13 – “We’re not going to let a concert stop us from playing music.” 12/6/13 – “Here’s a metaphysical question: Can God be creepy?” 1/6/14 – “He cheated; he practiced.” 1/9/14 – “Free is my favorite price.” 1/28/14 – “What do I have to do to get a simple Bb around here?” 2/5/14 – “Sometimes what I want and what I like are two different things.” 2/12/14 – “It’s weird. Just like you.” 2/20/14 – “Those high ‘B’s’, they’re really turbulent.” 2/21/14 – “You’re polluting the air with lies.” 2/24/14 – “The best effort is mutual effort.” 2/25/14 – “Gentlemen, start your instruments.” 2/17/14 – “You are my favorite student; just like everyone else.” 3/17/14 – “Less talk, more roll.” 3/20/14 – “Uptempo Country music is like Clifford Brown meets Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” 3/21/14 – “Nothing says ‘Jamaica’ like clarinets.” 3/31/14 – “Complaints first, questions later.” 5/13/14 – “It’s a simple choice: Be inspired, or quit.” 5/15/14 – “How do I prepare for a concert? I check the New York Times Book Review.” 5/19/14 – “I had dinner for breakfast.” 6/5/14 – “I’m distracted by my own metaphor.” 6/16/14 – “Too many saxophones spoil the band.” 9/22/14 – “Coffee defines me.” 9/26/14 – “Seven Tenor Saxes and eight Baritone Horns are a recipe for sonic disaster.” 10/2/14 – “Yep.” 10/7/14 – “It’s so easy, it’s hard.” 10/8/14 – “What part of ‘blah, blah, blah’ don’t you understand?” 10/17/14 – “Give me an ‘F’” “F” “Give me a ‘Sharp’” “#” “What’s that spell?” “F#” 10/21/14 – “Scales are the nectar of melodies.” 10/27/14 – “The few, the proud, the Band.” 10/30/14 – “It will…” 11/3/14 – “If at first you don’t succeed, try reading the music.” 11/5/14 – “ ‘D’: as in, key change.” 11/10/14 – “2 – 4 – 7 – 8: What do we appreciate? LESSONS.” 11/11/14 – “In board I trust.” 12/1/14 – “Pride goeth before a wrong note.” 12/4/14 – “I don’t know music but I do know a squeak when I hear it.” 12/5/14 – “Clarinet: Beautifully awkward.” 12/10/14 – “It’s a Band thing, you wouldn’t understand.” 01/08/15 – “There’s no “No thanks” in Jazz Band.” 01/20/15 – “I’m brimming with patience.” 01/21/15 – “Everybody is treated equally unfairly.” 02/05/15 – “I have a glue gun and I’m not afraid to use it.” 02/12/15 – “Does this bass match my outfit?” 03/10/15 – “It’s insane, so let’s do it.” 03/23/15 – “It’s written on the board so it must be true.” 03/26/15 – “I put 2 & 2 together and got π” 04/14/15 – “It won’t affect your playing; just your mood.” 04/23/15 – “Pride goeth before the chair falls.” 04/24/15 – “Valve oil: liquid gold.” 04/29/15 – “It’s why I do Band.” 05/06/15 – “ This is Woodwind Ensemble; the Land of Inappropriate.” 05/12/15 – “My tie is worse than my bite.” 05/13/15 – “Your bad timing couldn’t have been better timed.” 05/26/15 – “Behave yourself by going away.” 07/02/15 – “Led Zeppelin had no sense of time signature." 07/08/15 – “It's so deep, your ears hurt." 07/09/15 – “Michael The King, let's play some swing." 09/10/15 – “Let’s try that high-five again; this time without injury.” 10/01/15 – “You’re not practicing? You should be.” 10/13/15 – “Band first; Everything else second.” 10/14/15 – “I’m a Band Director; I like correct notes.” 10/15/15 – “The ‘C’ Scale is the beginning of Trombone torment.” 10/21/15 – “ “Leaders” “ 10/22/15 – “Nothing like a good Montuno to start your day.” 10/26/15 – “We are not obsessed.” 10/30/15 – “Take care of your instrument and it will take care of you.” 11/09/15 – “I need to become more intelligent” “That was the smartest thing you said.” 11/12/15 – “No more ambulation around here.” 11/16/15 – “Philosophical moments: Gotta’ love ‘em.” 11/19/15 – “The French Horn is the invisible glue that holds the Band together.” 11/23/15 – “I will never ‘Stop Believin’” (as in; Journey) 11/23/15 – “The quote is greater than the source.” 11/25/15 – “Best mistake ever.” 11/30/15 – “No more cymbal assaults.” 12/02/15 – “Stop talking; you’re hurting my ears.” 12/09/15 – “Drummers: No brain, no pain.” 12/10/15 – “Boulevard of Broken Clarinets.” 12/15/15 – “Failure is not an option.” 12/18/15 – “I’m too lazy to sit down.” 1/4/16 – “To Band or not to Band? There is no question. Just Do It.” 1/11/16 – “Cowards die many times before their death; the Valiant never taste of death but once.” - William Shakespeare (1564-1616) - “Let’s dance.” - David Bowie (1947-2016) 1/13/16 – “It’s the only song he can play and he can’t even play that one.” 1/14/16 – “The water in your horn is creating an undiscovered articulation.” 2/8/16 – “Unlike sports, Band has no losers; only drummers.” 2/10/16 – “There’s no substitute for a strong weak hand.” 2/22/16 – “Now is the Winter of our discontent; no more days off until the end of March.” - William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 2/24/16 – “It’s a Woodwind thing, you wouldn’t understand.” 3/2/16 – “The reed that broke the camel’s back.” 3/3/16 – “Don’t hate the song, hate the way we play it.” 3/8/16 – “Did you teach him to count to three yet?” 3/9/16 – “Put your mallets where your mouth is.” 4/14/16 – “You can lead a Brass player to water, but you can’t make him empty the spit-valve.” 4/22/16 – “It’s a stack of papers which makes it important.” 5/9/16 – “BNA: Band Nucleic Acid – The stuff that Band is made of.” 6/13/16 – “It sounds good until you listen to it.” 6/28/16 – “I like to keep my enemies close and my saxophones closer.” 6/5/16 – “It’s only funny until someone loses a drumstick.” 6/7/16 – “It’s not what you start, it’s what you finish.” 7/12/16 – “Real men play pocket trumpet.” |