In 2019 I was able to present a breakout session with Jon Lijoi at the Modern Band Summit in Fort Collins, Colorado. Our presentation “Let’s Make it Intuitive” focused on using a music writing software such as Finale, Sibelius or Noteflight to quickly upload and edit a midi or XML file found online. This made it much more accessible to have teachers download their students favorite songs and adjust the individual parts for their specific instrumentation. Using these features significantly reduces the time it would take to transcribe all of the parts and provides a quick turnover for teachers to tailor each song/piece to their ensembles.
Here is the link to the Powerpoint Presentation: Let’s Make it Intuitive
You can also view our presentation on the Music Will (Formerly Little Kids Rock) website along with all of the other sessions from the 2019 conference below:
In 2024 Jon and I were able to present another breakout session titled “Modern Band for Everyone”. This session was aimed at providing a framework for music teachers to include the student(s) who do not play a an instrument typically found in a specific ensemble and creating or transcribing the part for that student. We discussed multiple ways to approach adding a part, for example, using a song that already has that instrument orchestrated in the original or totally creating a new part to enhance the song. Either way this can bring a great sense of connection in your ensemble as well as musicianship.
You can also view our presentation on the Music Will website along with all of the other sessions from the 2024 conference below:
