I have agreed to continue for the 2022-23 school year teaching band and vocal music at Lodge Grass, a small Crow Indian town isolated in Southern Montana at the north foot of the Big Horn Mountains. The agreement is simple. Since I am to be age 80 in just a few months, I promise to continue, as long as I can have enough fun with young people having fun with music to keep my old bones moving with their music drowning out my creaking joints.
LG band room rocks again.
I started with beginners with real band instruments the end of February. By April nearly everyone had three notes down, and many had five. With drummers and the band learning under my interpretation of the Suzuki method–a little more complex than rote learning–students were able to learn by reading instrument positions, hearing, and imitating hand positions in time with breath. Three of our senses are at work synchronizing auditory, kinesthetic, and visual data simultaneously. Yes, I play along.
For 8th grade graduation last May we successfully played Eye of the Tiger. We did the 3-against-4 rhythm highlighted by drummers and picked up by the lead players. Students did it all
So I had fun with students grades 4 - 8 last spring semester, and starting this fall have high school band and choir added to the schedule. It will be fun seeing and hearing the LG band room rock again.
